TY - JOUR
T1 - Trabecular bone ontogeny in the human proximal femur
AU - Ryan, Timothy M.
AU - Krovitz, Gail E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Terrance Martin of the Illinois State Museum for access to the Norris Farm #36 skeletal material and George Milner of Penn State University for facilitating this research. Thanks to Abraham Grader and Phil Halleck of the Center for Quantitative Imaging at Penn State for their valuable advice on the collection of high-resolution CT data. Thanks also to Dave Zavagno of Universal Systems, Cleveland Ohio, who generously allowed us to use the benchtop microCT scanner to acquire some of the data for this project. This research would not be possible in its current form without the help of Richard Ketcham of the University of Texas at Austin who wrote the Quant3D software. This project has benefited greatly from the advice and support of Alan Walker. This research is supported by a grant from the Leakey Foundation.
Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006/12
Y1 - 2006/12
N2 - Ontogenetic changes in the human femur associated with the acquisition of bipedal locomotion, especially the development of the bicondylar angle, have been well documented. The purpose of this study is to quantify changes in the three-dimensional structure of trabecular bone in the human proximal femur in relation to changing functional and external loading patterns with age. High-resolution X-ray computed tomography scan data were collected for 15 juvenile femoral specimens ranging in age from prenatal to approximately nine years of age. Serial slices were collected for the entire proximal femur of each individual with voxel resolutions ranging from 0.017 to 0.046 mm depending on the size of the specimen. Spherical volumes of interest were defined within the proximal femur, and the bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, and fabric anisotropy were calculated in three dimensions. Bone volume fraction, trabecular number, and degree of anisotropy decrease between the age of 6 months and 12 months, with the lowest values for these parameters occurring in individuals near 12 months of age. By age 2-3 years, the bone volume, thickness, and degree of anisotropy increase slightly, and regions in the femoral neck become more anisotropic corresponding to the thickening of the inferior cortical bone of the neck. These results suggest that trabecular structure in the proximal femur reflects the shift in external loading patterns associated with the initiation of unassisted walking in infants.
AB - Ontogenetic changes in the human femur associated with the acquisition of bipedal locomotion, especially the development of the bicondylar angle, have been well documented. The purpose of this study is to quantify changes in the three-dimensional structure of trabecular bone in the human proximal femur in relation to changing functional and external loading patterns with age. High-resolution X-ray computed tomography scan data were collected for 15 juvenile femoral specimens ranging in age from prenatal to approximately nine years of age. Serial slices were collected for the entire proximal femur of each individual with voxel resolutions ranging from 0.017 to 0.046 mm depending on the size of the specimen. Spherical volumes of interest were defined within the proximal femur, and the bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, and fabric anisotropy were calculated in three dimensions. Bone volume fraction, trabecular number, and degree of anisotropy decrease between the age of 6 months and 12 months, with the lowest values for these parameters occurring in individuals near 12 months of age. By age 2-3 years, the bone volume, thickness, and degree of anisotropy increase slightly, and regions in the femoral neck become more anisotropic corresponding to the thickening of the inferior cortical bone of the neck. These results suggest that trabecular structure in the proximal femur reflects the shift in external loading patterns associated with the initiation of unassisted walking in infants.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.06.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 16963108
AN - SCOPUS:33750631454
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 51
SP - 591
EP - 602
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
IS - 6
ER -