Macroscopic Bone Structure

The skeleton is an integral aspect of the human body, as such, the organisation of the bone tissue is very important. Bone tissue can be broken down into macroscopic and microscopic organisation.
Working from the superficial surface to the median of a bones anatomy, macroscopic tissue structure is organised as follows; compact bone, spongy bone, the medullary cavity and on the surface of the compact bone at the distal and proximal epiphyses of long bones is the connective articular cartilage.
The compact bone is the supportive, protective shell that microscopically comprises of the periosteum on the superior surface and concentric circular osteons also known as Haversian Systems. The osteons are formed by concentric lamella, which are comprised of canaliculi. These are canal like structures that are used for communication.
They form a passage, the central Haversian canal, for blood vessels. In addition to the concentric lamella of the osteons, compact bone is also formed by outer circumferential lamellae which is found deeper than the periosteum and interstitial lamellae which is found superficial to spongy bone. They fill the space around the circular osteons.
Deeper into the tissue organisation is the spongy bone, found most densely at the proximal and distal epiphysis of long bones. Microscopically this is comprised of trabeculae. The trabeculae is a scaffold like support structure formed by osteoblast, osteoclasts, osteocytes, lacuna, lamellae and canaliculi. In the space left by the structure of the trabeculae, red bone marrow is stored. This can be used for haematopoiesis, the formation of new blood