Sharpey's fibres

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Sharpey's fibres
A, crown of the tooth, covered by enamel. B, root of the tooth, covered by cementum. C, alveolar bone. D, subepithelial connective tissue. E, oral epithelium. F, free gingival margin. H, principle gingival fibres. I, alveolar crest fibres of the periodontal ligament (PDL). J, horizontal fibres of the PDL. K, oblique fibres of the PDL
Anatomical terminology

Sharpey's fibres (bone fibres, or perforating fibres) are a

lamellae
of bone tissue.

Sharpey's fibres also attach muscle to the periosteum of bone by merging with the fibrous periosteum and underlying bone as well. A good example is the attachment of the rotator cuff muscles to the blade of the scapula.

In the

periodontal ligament fibre and the alveolar
bone (tooth socket), and acts as a buffer medium against stress. Sharpey's fibres in the primary acellular cementum are mineralized fully; those in cellular cementum and bone are mineralized only partially at their periphery.[2]

In the skull, the main function of Sharpey's fibres is to bind the cranial bones in a firm but moveable manner; they are most numerous in areas where the bones are subjected to the greatest forces of separation. In the spine, similar fibres join the intervertebral disc to the adjacent vertebrae.[3] Each fibre is accompanied by an arteriole and one or more nerve fibres.[4]

Scottish anatomist William Sharpey described them in 1846, although they were also referred to as the claviculi of Gagliardi after Domenico Gagliardi who described them in 1689.[5]

References

  1. ^ "C. Principal fibers of the periodontal ligament". Archived from the original on 2 September 2006.
  2. ^ Kuroiwa, M; Chihara K; Higashi S (1994). "Electron microscopic studies on Sharpey's fibres in the alveolar bone of rat molars". Kaibogaku Zasshi. 69 (6): 776–82.
    PMID 7887126
    .
  3. ^ Gerald L. Burke. "Backache: From Occiput to Coccyx". MacDonald Publishing. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  4. ISSN 0308-8766
    .
  5. .