Bones Dr. D.R.Johnson, Centre for Human Biology Anatomists talk about both bone andbones. You will learn about bone cellselsewhere, but here is a picture of a cast of one, just to prove they exist . This osteocyte has characteristic long processes which runthrough the bone putting it in touch both with other cells and withblood vessels and nerves.
Bones are discrete organs made up of bonetissue, plus a few other things.
The main misconception about bones then, is that they are made upof dead tissue. This is not true, they have cells, nerves, bloodvessels and pain receptors. Bone constituents, organic and inorganicmatrix and cells all turn over at a fairly rapid rate. If we treat abone with various solvents we can remove the inorganic matrix and leavethe flexible collagen. Or we can burn a bone and leave a hard brittleresidue.