Bone formation, also called ossification, process by which new bone is produced. Ossification begins about the third month of fetal life in humans and is completed by late adolescence. The process takes two general forms, one for compact bone, which makes up roughly 80 percent of the skeleton, and the other for cancellous bone, including parts of the skull, the shoulder blades, and the ends of the long bones.

Bone of the first type begins in the embryonic skeleton with a cartilage model, which is gradually replaced by bone. Specialized connective tissue cells called osteoblasts secrete a matrix material called osteoid, a gelatinous substance made up of collagen, a fibrous protein, and mucopolysaccharide, an organic glue. Soon after the osteoid is laid down, inorganic salts are deposited in it to form the hardened material recognized as mineralized bone. The cartilage cells die out and are replaced by osteoblasts clustered in ossification centres. Bone formation proceeds outward from these centres. This replacement of cartilage by bone is known as endochondral ossification. Most short bones have a single ossification centre near the middle of the bone; long bones of the arms and legs typically have three, one at the centre of the bone and one at each end. Ossification of long bones proceeds until only a thin strip of cartilage remains at either end; this cartilage, called the epiphyseal plate, persists until the bone reaches its full adult length and is then replaced with bone.

The flat bones of the skull are not preformed in cartilage like compact bone but begin as fibrous membranes consisting largely of collagen and blood vessels. Osteoblasts secrete the osteoid into this membrane to form a sponge like network of bony processes called trabeculae. The new bone formation radiates outward from ossification centres in the membrane. This process is called intramembranous ossification. There are several ossification centres in the skull. At birth, bone formation is incomplete, and soft spots can be felt between these centres. The lines where the new bone from adjacent centres meets form cranial sutures visible on the surface of the adult skull.

Both endochondral and intramembranous ossification produce immature bone, which undergoes a process of bone resorption and deposition called bone remodeling to produce mature bone.

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