Bone marrow

Gray's Anatomy illustration of cells in bone marrow

Bone marrow is a type of tissue that can be found in hollow bones. In adults, the bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. About 4% of the weight of an adult human is bone marrow, that is about 2.6 kg.

Marrow types

A femur with a cortex of cortical bone and medulla of trabecular bone showing its red bone marrow and a focus of yellow bone marrow.

There are two types of bone marrow: red marrow (consisting mainly of myeloid tissue) and yellow marrow (consisting mainly of fat cells). Red blood cells, platelets and most white blood cells arise in red marrow. Both types of bone marrow contain numerous blood vessels and capillaries.

At birth, all bone marrow is red. With age, more and more of it is converted to the yellow type. About half of adult bone marrow is red.[1] Red marrow is found mainly in the flat bones, such as the hip bone, breast bone, skull, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades, and in the cancellous ("spongy") material at the epiphyseal ends of the long bones such as the femur and humerus. Yellow marrow is found in the hollow interior of the middle portion of long bones.

In cases of severe blood periods, the body can convert yellow marrow back to red marrow to increase blood cell production.