MICROANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -Chondrocytes proliferate rapidly and secrete an extracellular matrix to form the cartilage model for bone. The cartilage model includes hyaline cartilage resembling the shape of the future bone as well as a surrounding membrane called the perichondrium.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the early stages of embryonic development, the embryo’s skeleton consists of fibrous membranes and hyaline cartilage. By the sixth or seventh week of embryonic life, the actual process of bone development, ossification (osteogenesis), begins.

Detailed explanation-3: -Eventually, all the cartilage is replaced by bone. Thus, the cartilage tissue serves as a model for the bone that follows. The skeletal components of the vertebral column, the pelvis, and the limbs are first formed of cartilage and later become bone.

Detailed explanation-4: -During embryonic and fetal development much of the skeleton initiates as a cartilaginous scaffold, which is progressively resorbed and replaced by bone. Endochondral bone formation continues until the growth plates fuse during puberty.

Detailed explanation-5: -By the time the fetal skeleton is fully formed, cartilage only remains at the joint surface as articular cartilage and between the diaphysis and epiphysis as the epiphyseal plate, the latter of which is responsible for the longitudinal growth of bones.