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What Is Longitudinal Bone Growth?

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Longitudinal bone growth occurs at the epiphyseal plate, which is a thin layer of cartilage between the epiphyseal and metaphyseal bone at the distal ends of the long bones. Bone growth is the result of maturation, growth of chondrocytes, their production of bone matrix, and finally calcification (47). The growth plate is a complex structure consisting of different layers of cells, as shown in figure 3. The most immature cells, the stem cells, are found towards the epiphyseal end of the growth plate in the stem cell zone, or resting zone; the proliferating zone contains more mature chondrocytes and the hypertrophic zone contains the larger chondrocytes. The resting stem cells in the resting zone are recruited, whereupon proliferation and differentiation

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