The bones of the skeletal system serve many important functions for the body, from giving your body support to allowing you to move. They also play an important role in blood cell production and fat storage.

Bone marrow is the spongy or viscous tissue that fills the inside of your bones. There are actually two types of bone marrow:

Read on to learn more about different functions of red and yellow bone marrow as well as the conditions that affect bone marrow.

Red bone marrow is involved in hematopoiesis. This is another name for blood cell production. Hematopoietic stem cells that are found in red bone marrow can develop into a variety of different blood cells, including:

Newly produced blood cells enter your bloodstream through vessels called sinusoids.

As you age, your red bone marrow is gradually replaced with yellow bone marrow. And by adulthood, red bone marrow can be found only in a handful of bones, including the:

Yellow bone marrow is involved in the storage of fats. The fats in yellow bone marrow are stored in cells called adipocytes. This fat can be used as an energy source as needed.

Yellow bone marrow also contains mesenchymal stem cells. These are cells that can develop into bone, fat, cartilage, or muscle cells.

Remember, over time, yellow bone marrow starts to replace red bone marrow. So, most bones in an adult body contain yellow bone marrow.

Bone marrow is crucial for producing blood cells. Therefore, a range of blood-related conditions involve issues with bone marrow.

Many of these conditions affect the numbers of blood cells produced in bone marrow. This causes them to share many common symptoms, including:

Heres a look at some specific conditions involving bone marrow issues.

Leukemia is a type of cancer that can affect both your bone marrow and lymphatic system.

It happens when blood cells get mutations in their DNA. This causes them to grow and divide more rapidly than healthy blood cells. Over time, these cells start to crowd out the healthy cells in your bone marrow.

Leukemia is classified as either acute or chronic, depending on how fast it progresses. Its further broken down by the type of white blood cells it involves.

Myelogenous leukemia involves red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Lymphocytic leukemia involves lymphocytes, a specific type of white blood cell.

Some of the major types of leukemia include:

Theres no clear cause of leukemia, but certain things can increase your risk, including:

Aplastic anemia occurs when bone marrow doesnt produce enough new blood cells. It occurs from damage to the stem cells of bone marrow. This makes it harder from them to grow and develop into new blood cells.

This damage can be either:

Myeloproliferative disorders happen when the stem cells in bone marrow grow abnormally. This can lead to increased numbers of a specific type of blood cell.

There are several types of myeloproliferative disorders, including:

Bone marrow is found in the bones throughout your body. There are two types of bone marrow. Red bone marrow is involved in production of blood cells, while yellow marrow is important for fat storage. As you age, yellow bone marrow replaces red bone marrow.

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