Gastrointestinal: Adjective referring collectively to the stomach and small and large intestines. The commonly used abbreviation for gastrointestinal is GI. (Outside of medicine, GI can also stand for galvanized iron, general issue or government issue-as in GI Joe).
Before the extracellular matrix is calcified, the tissue is called osteoid (bone-like) tissue. When the concentrations of calcium and phosphate ions rise high enough, they are deposited into the extracellular matrix, and the bone calcifies.
osâ²teÂ·oÂ·blasâ²tic adj. osteoblast. a bone-forming cell that is derived from the embryonic mesenchyme and, during the early development of the skeleton, differentiates from a fibroblast to function in the formation of bone tissue. Osteoblasts synthesize the collagen and glycoproteins to form the osteoid matrix and, with growth, develop into osteocytes.