A.Y. Chen Illustration & Design
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Portfolio
    • Science magazine art
    • Vector Art
    • Black & White
    • Classic work
  • Animation
  • Contact
  • Children's book art

More about bones

5/6/2015

0 Comments

 
Hormone control of bone building and breakdown, osteoclasts, osteoblasts
One of the amazing things about having a career that has spanned over decades is being able to go back and see how your work has changed. It is inevitable that over this long course of time, that I would have drawn the same parts of anatomy and cellular subject matter over and again. In talking about this seemingly antagonistic pair of cells, I bring back this piece because not only was it my first time drawing osteoblasts and osteoclasts, but it was my VERY first Photoshop illo from 1996 when I was a student.

This image shows how the thyroid and parathyroid glands (upper left cropped off inset with yellow/orange background. Thyroid is a salmon pink butterfly, parathyroids are the embedded tiny yellow beans) signal the osteoclasts and osteoblasts to control the level of calcium in the blood (lower right, purple swiss-cheesed deep purple vessel). If levels are low, osteoclasts break down bone which releases calcium as a result. If levels are high, osteoblasts absorb excess calcium, trapping it in the bone matrix.


In our previous image, we saw how bisphosphonate can influence the activities of such cells. Calcium is yet another chemical that cells use to understand the environment and what it calls for to be in a normal state. What we ultimately want to take away is that cells depend on signals which determine their course of action, much like how we depend on a growling stomach to let us know we are hungry and should find something to eat.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    The purpose of this blog is to explore more effective and exciting ways to communicate science.

    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.