Epiphyseal plate

The epiphyseal plate is a layer of hyaline cartilage between the end and shaft of a growing long bone. Its cartilage is replaced by bone, lengthening the bone until growth ends.

Endochondral ossification: The process by which bone forms through the replacement of a cartilage model. It replaces plate cartilage with bone as the shaft lengthens.
Long bone: A bone whose length exceeds its width and whose shaft and ends have distinct structures. The epiphyseal plate is the growth region of a long bone.
Bone age: An estimate of skeletal maturity based on the appearance and development of bones. Growth-plate development and closure help estimate how much skeletal growth remains.
Appositional growth: An increase in bone width through deposition of new bone at its surface. It widens bones, unlike growth at the plate, which lengthens them.
Chondrocyte: A cartilage-forming cell that produces and maintains the cartilage matrix. Chondrocytes divide and enlarge within the plate before their matrix is replaced.
Epiphysis: The end region of a long bone, usually formed largely from spongy bone. The plate separates this end region from the shaft during growth.
Salter–Harris fracture: A fracture in a child or adolescent that extends through or near an epiphyseal plate. These fractures can disrupt the plate and cause abnormal growth.
Intramembranous ossification: Bone formation directly from mesenchymal tissue without a cartilage model. It forms bone without the cartilage-replacement sequence used at the plate.
Epiphyseal plate zones: The regions of the growth plate in which chondrocytes proliferate, mature, and undergo calcification. Their ordered progression explains how plate cartilage becomes lengthening bone.
Metaphysis: The flared region of a long bone between its shaft and end. The growth plate lies at the junction of the metaphysis and epiphysis.

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