The blood supply of the periosteum.

Twelve goat limbs were injected with red latex and then carefully dissected to display the vessels of the periosteum. The blood supply of periosteum was found to be derived from four sets of vessels: (1) Intrinsic periosteal system. (2) Musculoperiosteal system. (3) Fascioperiosteal system. (4) Cortical capillary anastomoses. The intrinsic system of vessels lay within the fibrous layer of the periosteum. According to the pattern of these vessels they could be divided into: (a) a short vessel pattern, where there were many small vessels with no predominant direction; (b) a circular pattern, where the vessels encircled the bone; (c) a longitudinal pattern, where the vessels ran parallel to the long axis of the bone. The musculoperiosteal system consisted of connections between the muscle circulation and the periosteal vessels at the sites of muscle origin. The fascioperiosteal system consisted of branches from a limb artery that ran in a fascial plane between muscles to supply the periosteum. The cortical capillary anastomosis consisted of capillaries that ran in the bone cortex between the intramedullary circulation and the periosteal vessels.