6.0 Module Overview

Stina’s diary

The entries behind this module

“The fitness test” (10) · “New town” (10–11) · “Truant” (12) · “The backpack” (13) · “Every door” (51).

Read the diary →

The original lectures and histology

Eleven mini-lectures, four histology pages, six hero cards, one case

Every original skeletal-tissue mini-lecture on bettybroadbent.com (Bone as a Connective Tissue through FracturesBreaks in bones due to stress or injury. and Healing) is linked from the scene it belongs to, with the Bone, Hyaline, Elastic and Fibrocartilage histology pages, the Connective Tissues Guided Journey, the In-Betweeners hero cards (Captain Concrete, the Lattice, the Glider, the Bouncer, the Shock Absorber, the Shapeshifter), the glossary and flash cards, the diseases flip cards and Maria’s case used where they fit. Nothing is lost; everything has a new home.

Open the original skeletal tissue lectures

By the end you can

1. Describe bone as a living connective tissue — organic osteoid and inorganic mineral, their properties and the diseases of missing mineral; the four bone cells, their lineages and jobs; the six functions of the skeleton — and recognize benign growing pains against their red flags.
2. Classify bones by shape, label a long bone and a flat bone (epiphysisThe expanded ends of a long bone., diaphysisThe shaft of a long bone., medullary cavityThe hollow space inside bones that contains bone marrow., epiphyseal plateA growth plate in developing bones made of cartilage. and line, diploëThe spongy bone layer sandwiched between compact bone in flat bones.), describe the periosteum’s two layers and the endosteumA thin connective tissue lining the marrow cavity., and trace blood and nerves into bone through nutrient foramina and perforating canals.
3. Contrast compact and spongy bone, build an osteon (lamellae, central canalA hollow canal in an osteon containing blood vessels and nerves., lacunae, canaliculiTiny channels that connect osteocytes, allowing communication and nutrient exchange., the three lamella types), explain how a buried osteocyteMature bone cells that maintain bone tissue. is fed and senses strain, and identify these structures on ground and decalcified bone slides.
4. Distinguish calcificationThe hardening of tissues due to calcium salt deposition. from ossification, sequence intramembranous (four steps) and endochondral (five steps) ossification, name the five zones of the epiphyseal plate, and explain growth in length versus appositional growthThe process of bone widening and thickening by adding layers to the surface. in width and when the plates close.
5. Describe cartilage (resilient, water-rich, avascularTo be devoid of blood capillaries. Epithelial tissue is avascular, kind of like a cap of dead cells, perichondrium, chondrocytes, appositional and interstitial growthGrowth from within a tissue. Cartilage grows this way, which is how the epiphyseal plate lengthens a), place hyaline, elastic and fibrocartilageA tough, shock-absorbing cartilage found in intervertebral discs and menisci., label a synovial joint and classify joints, define synovitis and effusion, and explain why cartilage heals poorly and why a sterile effusion with fever is FMF arthritis.
6. Quantify remodeling (5–7% a week; 3–5 and 10 years), explain its hormonal control (PTH’s three targets, calcitoninA hormone from the thyroid that lowers blood calcium levels by inhibiting osteoclasts., vitamin D) and mechanical control (Wolff’s law and its four implications), read a DEXA with a Z-score, list secondary causes of low bone density and explain the RANKL/OPG pathway by which IL-1β and IL-6 thin bone.
7. Classify fractures, sequence the four steps of repair as ossification run again, apply the FMF criteria to the skeletal column of a chart, weigh the LPIN2/Majeed thread as a hedge, and read Chart Clue #6 — six skeletal labels as one inflammatory remodeling disease — carrying the calcium thread into Module 7.