Epiphyseal plate
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The epiphyseal plate (or epiphysial plate, physis, or growth plate) is the hyaline cartilage plate in the metaphyses of children and adolescents. The longitudinal growth of these bones occurs primarily at these plates. At the end of puberty, the epiphyseal cartilage cells stop duplicating and the entire cartilage is slowly replaced by bone, leaving only epiphyseal lines in their previous location. Bone growth stops. Ossification of all bones is usually completed by age 25. Once the adult stage is reached, the only way to manipulate height is modifying bone length via distraction osteogenesis.
An epiphyseal plate is located at one or both ends of the bone between the epiphysis (end) and the diaphysis (shaft) of long bones. Growth occurs towards the diaphysis or shaft of the long bone.[1]
John Hunter studied growing chickens. He observed bones grew at the ends and thus demonstrated the existence of the epiphyseal plates. Hunter is considered the "father of the growth plate".[2]
Salter-Harris fractures can occur on epiphyseal plates.
The growth plate has a very specific morphology in having a zonal arrangement. The growth plate includes a relatively inactive reserve zone at the epiphyseal end, moving distally into a proliferative and then hyper trophic zone and ending with a band of ossifying cartilage (the metaphysis). The growth plate is clinically relevant in that it is often the primary site for infection, metastasis, fractures and the effects of endocrine bone disorders.
