抄録
Osteoclasts of rat parietal bones were cultured and observed under the transmission electron microscope. The processes forming the ruffled border were studied three-dimensionally by a reconstruction method. After the observation of one plane (A-plane), serial ultrathin sections were made at right angles to the A-plane (B-plane). The processes of the ruffled border in the B-plane were reconstructed, based on the A-plane features, with Nikon Cosmozone 2S.
The three-dimensional structure of the ruffled border of the osteoclasts was composed of two kinds of processes: one finger-like and the other plate-like. Both finger-like and plate-like processes branched from the stem processes projecting directly from the cell body. The long plate-like processes branched into secondary plates, extending perpendicularly to the bone surface.
