The ontogeny of human fetal trabecular bone architecture occurs in a limb-specific manner
File(s)s41598-024-67566-w.pdf (1.63 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Abel, Richard
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Gestational growth and development of bone is an understudied process compared to soft tissues and has implications for lifelong health. This study investigated growth and development of human fetal limb bone trabecular architecture using 3D digital histomorphometry of microcomputed tomography data from the femora and humeri of 35 skeletons (17 female and 18 male) with gestational ages between 4 and 9 months. Ontogenetic data revealed: (i) fetal trabecular architecture is similar between sexes; (ii) the proximal femoral metaphysis is physically larger, with thicker trabeculae and greater bone volume fraction relative to the humerus, but other aspects of trabecular architecture are similar between the bones; (iii) between 4 and 9 months gestation there is no apparent sexual or limb dimorphism in patterns of growth, but the size of the humerus and femur diverges early in development. Additionally, both bones exhibit significant increases in mean trabecular thickness (and for the femur alone, bone volume fraction) but minimal trabecular reorganisation (i.e., no significant changes in degree of anisotropy, connectivity density, or fractal dimension). Overall, these data suggest that in contrast to data from the axial skeleton, prenatal growth of long bones in the limbs is characterised by size increase, without major reorganizational changes in trabecular architecture.
Date Issued
2024-08-31
Date Acceptance
2024-07-12
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2024, 14
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
14
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-67566-w
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
20261
Date Publish Online
2024-08-31