Bone microarchitecture at muscle attachment sites: The relationship between macroscopic scores of entheses and their cortical and trabecular microstructural design

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bone microarchitecture at muscle attachment sites: The relationship between macroscopic scores of entheses and their cortical and trabecular microstructural design

AU - Djukic, Ksenija

AU - Milovanovic, Petar

AU - Hahn, Michael

AU - Busse, Björn

AU - Amling, Michael

AU - Djuric, Marija

N1 - © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PY - 2015/5

Y1 - 2015/5

N2 - The studies of entheses in bioarchaeology attempted to reconstruct the habitual physical activities of past populations. However, the studies of microarchitecture of the underlying bone are still lacking despite well-known potential of bone internal microarchitecture to reflect mechanical loading. It is unknown whether different morphological expressions of entheseal changes (ECs) correlate with the microstructural characteristics of the underlining bone. This study analyzed bone microstructural characteristics at the entheses. Our focus was on examining the possible successive nature of the three-stage scale of entheseal macroscopic changes by comparing EC scores with the microarchitectural features at the attachment sites. The study was based on the hypothesis that mechanical loading influences the microarchitecture of the bone at the attachment site. The bone samples were taken from 24 adult male skeletons from medieval cemeteries in Serbia, with different macroscopic expression score of EC. We evaluated the macroscopic and microscopic appearance of four entheses of the lower limbs (origin of the soleus muscle and the insertions of the adductor magnus, gluteus maximus, and iliopsoas muscles). The specimens were scanned using microcomputed tomography (Scanco µCT 40). Our data showed a lack of consistent correlation between stages of the macroscopic scoring systems with microarchitecture at the entheses, only cortical thickness was significantly different between EC stages. Analyzing relationship between trabecular and cortical bone microstructure we found correlations between cortical and trabecular variables only in Stage C. Results of our study suggest that macroscopic EC might not represent distinct successive phases in bone adaptation to mechanical loading.

AB - The studies of entheses in bioarchaeology attempted to reconstruct the habitual physical activities of past populations. However, the studies of microarchitecture of the underlying bone are still lacking despite well-known potential of bone internal microarchitecture to reflect mechanical loading. It is unknown whether different morphological expressions of entheseal changes (ECs) correlate with the microstructural characteristics of the underlining bone. This study analyzed bone microstructural characteristics at the entheses. Our focus was on examining the possible successive nature of the three-stage scale of entheseal macroscopic changes by comparing EC scores with the microarchitectural features at the attachment sites. The study was based on the hypothesis that mechanical loading influences the microarchitecture of the bone at the attachment site. The bone samples were taken from 24 adult male skeletons from medieval cemeteries in Serbia, with different macroscopic expression score of EC. We evaluated the macroscopic and microscopic appearance of four entheses of the lower limbs (origin of the soleus muscle and the insertions of the adductor magnus, gluteus maximus, and iliopsoas muscles). The specimens were scanned using microcomputed tomography (Scanco µCT 40). Our data showed a lack of consistent correlation between stages of the macroscopic scoring systems with microarchitecture at the entheses, only cortical thickness was significantly different between EC stages. Analyzing relationship between trabecular and cortical bone microstructure we found correlations between cortical and trabecular variables only in Stage C. Results of our study suggest that macroscopic EC might not represent distinct successive phases in bone adaptation to mechanical loading.

KW - Adult

KW - Anthropology, Physical

KW - Femur

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Tendons

KW - X-Ray Microtomography

U2 - 10.1002/ajpa.22691

DO - 10.1002/ajpa.22691

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 25546406

VL - 157

SP - 81

EP - 93

JO - AM J PHYS ANTHROPOL

JF - AM J PHYS ANTHROPOL

SN - 0002-9483

IS - 1

ER -