Fact of the Day

Growth Plates

Mammals have the ability of skeletal growth because of flexible epiphyses [pronounced: a pith a seas] (growth caps) found at the ends of the long bone shafts. The epiphyseal cartilages [growth plates] separate the epiphyses while bones are forming. The advent of puberty is signaled by an increase of sex hormones and at this point the growth plates begin to close. Once they are eliminated, the growth process totally stops.

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