I have gotten rather immersed into the science of bones lately. I’ve been collecting skulls for artistic reasons for a long time but now I’ve taken the opportunity to use them for studying. I’m now aware that all bones have some form of nutrient canal or foramina in order to supply nutrients and transport blood cells which are produced in the marrow found in bones.
Long bones such as the humerus and tibia have nutrient canals typically located midway through the shaft of the bone. That said, how this work for smaller and thinner bones like the sections of the skull?
Not all parts of the skull are the same. The maxilla bears the infraorbital foramen. The frontal has the supraorbital foramen. The parietal does not have a foramen, not typically anyway. Some bones have large foramens for accepting the large vessels/nerves but what about the other ones which have no large foramen? How do they get their nutrients?
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Flat bones don’t have a nutrient canal! They’re supplied the same way as the outside/external parts of long bone–there’s a thin layer of tissue covering all bones called the periosteum. The arteries supplying the scalp (like the superficial temporal artery) send tiny branches to this layer. These tiny branches then branch into even smaller (microscopic) vessels that penetrate through the actual cortex of the bone through structures called volkmann or perforating canals, and supply the tissue inside.
[This image](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Goran-Augustin/publication/5954096/figure/fig6/AS:277743385235490@1443230591850/ascular-supply-of-cortical-bone-Periostocortical-anastomosis-connects-periosteal-and.png) shows a long bone, but it’s the same principle!
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