Vascular canals in bovine cortical bone studied by corrosion casting.

The architecture of vascular canals in cortical bovine bone was studied by a corrosion casting method. Prior to perfusion of the casting polymer, both cellular and nonmineralized components were removed to ensure proper impregnation into vascular canals--haversian and Volkmann's canals within secondary osteons and the vascular canals of periosteal circumferential lamellae. The resulting castings revealed an anastomotic system of canals within and between these two regions of cortical bone. The nature of these arborizations, their varying degrees of interconnectiveness, and their spatial, three-dimensional ordering are clearly demonstrated in this study.