Cartilage canals

Abstract

Certain minute tunnels containing blood vessels and known as cartilage canals (Figs 2.18–2.20, 10.1) are generally found in the cartilaginous epiphyses of the fetal appendicular skeleton, not only in mammals but also in birds and amphibia. They are also reputed to occur in the adult skeleton in persisting blocks of hyaline cartilage, e.g. the laryngeal and costal cartilages. The most frequently studied group is that which develops in the cartilaginous extremities of the long bones. The vessels which they contain are the forerunners of the epiphyseal nutrient arteries and veins and their ramifications in bony epiphyses. Over the years a sizeable literature has grown up, especially on the Continent, about the vascular cartilage canals. Nevertheless the mechanism controlling their development is still largely unknown, and their significance in cartilage nutrition and in the initiation of centres of ossification has still to be accurately defined.