Osteoconduction

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process where a material aids in the development of bone by acting as a structural support for new tissue integration
2. A method that involves promoting bone formation by supplying an appropriate scaffold for cellular attachment and growth
3. The mechanism through which a substrate supports the growth of bone tissue by providing a framework for new osteogenic cells to attach and proliferate

Etymology: Bone does not only heal from within: it can also be guided to grow along a surface. The term "osteoconduction" names this process, in which new bone forms along a scaffold, which serves as a passive framework that the body's own bone-forming cells can grow across and into. The word is built from two parts. The first, "osteo-", comes from the Ancient Greek "ostéon", meaning "bone", and the same combining form appears in "osteoporosis" and "osteopathy". The second is "conduction", used here in the older sense of leading or guiding something along a path, as in the way a conduit guides water. The word is a modern technical coinage, formed in English from the Greek element plus the familiar English noun. Its meaning is clear from its parts: the scaffold conducts new bone growth rather than producing bone itself, which distinguishes it from osteoinduction, where a material actively signals cells to become bone-forming.