A cell of osseous tissue that occupies a lacuna and has cytoplasmic processes that extend into canaliculi and make contact by means of gap junctions with the processes of other osteocytes. SYN: bone cell, bone corpuscle, osseous cell. [osteo- + G. kytos, cell]
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os·teo·cyte 'äs-tē-ə-.sīt n a cell that is characteristic of adult bone and is isolated in a lacuna of the bone substance
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n.
a bone cell: an osteoblast that has ceased activity and has become embedded in the bone matrix.
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os·teo·cyte (osґte-o-sīt″) an osteoblast that has become embedded within the bone matrix, occupying a flat oval cavity (bone lacuna, q.v.) and sending, through the canaliculi, slender cytoplasmic processes that make contact with processes of other osteocytes.Medical dictionary. 2011.