Question

What makes a bone cell different from a muscle cell?

Answer 1

Bone cell is osteocyte while muscle cell is called myocyte.

Explanation:

1. Bones form infrastructure of skeletal system while muscles help in movement by contraction and relaxation.
2. Young bone cells secrete organic matrix of bony tissue.
   Myocytes do not secrete matrix.
3. Old bone cells are reabsorbed by osteoclast cells and new bone cells are generated from periosteum. Activity of osteoclasts increase with age.
   Myocytes are also replaced after a decade or so, but the rate declines as old age approaches.
4. There are myosin-actin interaction inside myocyte to achieve contraction, which is not required in bone cell.
5. Bone cells possess thin cytoplasmic branches, most myocytes are not like that (very short side branches are present in cardiac muscle cells).
6. Individual myocytes undergo hypertrophy (increase in size), but osteocytes do not.