Preliminary observations on the calcaneal trabecular microarchitecture of extant large-bodied hominoids

Murat Maga, John Kappelman, Timothy M. Ryan, Richard A. Ketcham

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this pilot study, we point out potential differences between calcaneal trabecular microarchitecture in humans and nonhuman large apes, such as increased degree of anisotropy, reduced bone volume fraction, and very stereotypical orientation of the trabeculae. Even though sample size does not permit us to investigate the issue statistically, the observed differences between humans and other hominoids warrants further in-depth investigation. We also show that some measurements of the trabecular network might be dependent on sampling density, which can be difficult to deal with in the case of animals of different body masses. We also present a new visualization technique that summarizes the trabecular network orientation, and makes it more readily interpretable than the summary statistics of the underlying fabric tensor of the orientation matrix.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)410-417
Number of pages8
JournalAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology
Volume129
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Anatomy
  • Anthropology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Preliminary observations on the calcaneal trabecular microarchitecture of extant large-bodied hominoids'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this