An epiphyseal line is an
epiphyseal plate that has become
ossified. The process of it forming from an epiphyseal plate is named
epiphyseal closure
The epiphyseal plate (or epiphysial plate, physis, or growth plate) is a hyaline cartilage plate in the metaphysis at each end of a long bone. It is the part of a long bone where new bone growth takes place; that is, the whole bone is alive, with ...
. In adult humans, it marks the point of fusion between the
epiphysis and the
metaphysis.
Function
The epiphyseal line serves no function in the bone, being purely
vestigial
Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...
. However, it serves as an indicator of the boundary between the epiphysis and diaphysis.
References
Skeletal system
Medical mnemonics
Animal physiology
Tissues (biology)
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