In the past, when we studied bone, great emphasis was placed on osteoblasts and osteoclasts, but the most widespread and most important cells, in fact, within bone are osteocytes.
For a long time in the history of bone, it was studied that the most important cells were osteoblasts and osteoclasts because osteocytes seemed to be inactive.
The functions of osteocytes remained unknown due to difficulties in study techniques until in the last decade microscopy and molecular biology techniques led researchers to define them as cells that perform numerous functions and secrete different types of molecules that act, even remotely, on organs such as the kidney, muscles, and other tissues, making them among the organs with endocrine function.
According to the latest research, osteocytes have gained in importance because from inactive cells, as they were thought to be before these discoveries, we now know they are the engines of bone and its remodeling. Osteocytes account for 90-95% of all bone cells and extend through the bone matrix via connections. Canaliculi form these connections with other osteocytes in neighboring cells, as well as with blood vessels and other cells found on the bone surface.
We have already seen that each osteocyte is connected to other osteocytes through billions of canaliculi within which water, the extracellular fluid, passes. So we can say that the relationship between all these osteocytes is a water relationship, and the ability of the bone to respond to stimulation is a capacity that responds, therefore, to the “hydraulic” system. That is why bone responds in real time to our treatment.
Thus, when speaking of osteocytes, we must keep in mind that we are dealing with a complex network whose visual identity has not yet been defined due to limitations in imaging techniques. In any case, scholars, through calculations and mathematical models, have estimated that the human skeleton of an average adult is composed of about 42 billion osteocytes. they have also estimated a total length of 175,000 km that connects all osteocytic processes connected end-to-end.
In the book Intraosseous Injuries () you can find more about the functioning of osteocytes introducing intraosseous injuries in a theoretical and practical way.
