Alternate phrasing: What is the latticework of thin bony plates in spongy bone tissue called?

• A. Trabeculae
• B. Compact bone
• C. Lamellae
• D. Blood vessels

Answer: (A)

In spongy bone, the structure you see is called trabeculae—the network of thin bony plates that forms a lattice, or cancellous, framework. This arrangement creates many small spaces that house bone marrow and allow vessels to pass through, while keeping the bone light yet strong. The trabeculae align along lines of stress to resist forces efficiently.

The other terms describe different features: compact bone is the dense outer layer made of osteons with lamellae; lamellae are the concentric layers within those osteons; blood vessels are tubes that supply nutrients and vessels run through bone but aren’t the lattice itself. So the latticework in spongy bone is trabeculae.