trabekler

Trabeculae are small beam-like elements that form a supporting network within various tissues. In bone, they are the slender plates or rods of cancellous (spongy) bone that create a lattice with marrow-filled spaces between them.

They align along mechanical stresses, providing strength while keeping weight low, and they offer a large surface area for mineral exchange and housing bone marrow. The density and connectivity of trabeculae influence bone strength and are maintained through remodeling in response to load and hormonal factors. In osteoporosis, thinning and loss of trabeculae increases fracture risk. Trabecular bone has a high turnover rate relative to cortical bone, and imaging-derived measures like trabecular bone score help assess its microarchitecture.

In the heart, the ventricular cavities contain muscular ridges called trabeculae carneae, which increase muscular surface area and assist contraction and impulse conduction patterns.

Trabeculae also occur in other organs. In the spleen, trabeculae extend from the capsule to partition the parenchyma; in lymphoid organs such as lymph nodes and thymus, connective tissue trabeculae help organize lobules and compartments.

Etymology: from Latin trabicula, meaning a small beam. The term is used across anatomy to describe similar beam-like scaffolds in several tissues. In Turkish, the term for trabeculae is trabekler.