What are the function of link canals?

Link canals connect neighboring lacunae or canaliculi to allow exchange of tissue fluid and nutrients between the interstitial fluid and osteocytes in different lacunae. Each lacuna and its canaliculi in long bones may be connected to as many as 50 other lacunae.

Osteocytes within their lacunae are not fixed in position, but are quite motile and able to move through gaps in the lamellae from lacuna to lacuna. As osteocytes move, they extend long filopodial cytoplasmic extensions into the canaliculi, which come in contact with neighboring processes from other osteocytes. These cytoplasmic extensions act to translocate nutrients, waste products, and signaling molecules between the lacuna and its canaliculi, and between adjacent lacunae and their network of canaliculi.