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Osteoblasts and osteoclasts (400X)

Microimage
Image copyright: Mathias Nordvi, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. (Tissue stain: Azan).

The bone itself is to a large extent covered by a layer of osteoclasts. As you can see, the surface of the cortical bone isn't smooth. Besides osteocytes, the bone contains small pieces of cartilage. The cartilage has a blue/purple color in this section. In some places you can even see osteoclasts.

Published June 20th 2011, updated December 24th 2018.