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  1. In this piece on osteopetrosis, the body’s osteoblasts and osteoclasts are depicted as construction workers that are, respectively, building up and breaking down the bone, which is depicted as bricks in this drawing. In a healthy human body, the two construction workers can work in harmony by helping each other to rebuild different sections of the bone-wall. The osteoclasts will break down areas that are getting older, and the osteoblasts can then build newer, more durable bricks to add to the wall and make it both sturdier and healthier. In a body that is suffering from osteopetrosis, the osteoclasts are unable to properly function. Kelsea shows this through a confused construction worker who’s unsure of what their job is supposed to be. On the other side of the wall, the osteoblast construction worker is creating too many bricks to add to the wall, making it very dense. Since the osteoclast worker is unable to tear down the wall from lack of orders, the wall continues to get denser to the point where it is unable to break. This leads to the term “stone bone.” Like this “wall” of bone we see in the image, the patient’s bone becomes incredibly thick with an overabundance of working osteoblasts, but very few working osteoclasts.

    tmbergan

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