Age-related differences between thinning of horizontal and vertical trabeculae in human lumbar bone as assessed by a new computerized method

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Thomsen, J. S.¹; Ebbesen, E. N.¹; Mosekilde, Li.¹

Age-related differences between thinning of horizontal and vertical trabeculae in human lumbar bone as assessed by a new computerized method

Bone. July 2002;31(1):136-142

©2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Affiliations

¹Department of Cell Biology, Institute of Anatomy, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmar
Abstract and keywords

To investigate whether vertical trabeculae undergo compensatory thickening with age in the human vertebral body, a new computerized method was developed that is able to distinguish between horizontal and vertical trabeculae on normal histological sections. Study subjects included 48 individuals (24 women aged 19–97 years, and 24 men aged 23–95 years). From each L-2, thick frontal sections of half of the vertebra were embedded undecalcified in methylmetacrylate and cut into 10-μm-thick sections. A simple method able to classify image pixels as belonging to either vertical or horizontal trabeculae was developed and implemented in a computer program. The parallel-plate model was modified so that it was able to determine trabecular thickness, number, and separation (Tb.Th, Tb.N, and Tb.Sp) for horizontal and vertical trabeculae separately. The histomorphometric parameters were measured in three different regions: whole section, mid-third, and sub-endplate, for both horizontal and vertical trabeculae. It was found that the trabecular thickness of vertical trabeculae was independent of age in all investigated regions. The thickness of the horizontal trabeculae, in contrast, decreased significantly with age in all these regions. Tb.N decreased significantly with age for both horizontal and vertical trabeculae in all regions. However, the relative loss of trabeculae per unit length was largest for the horizontal trabeculae, whereas the absolute loss of trabeculae per unit length was largest for the vertical trabeculae. Tb.Sp was found to increase significantly with age for both vertical and horizontal trabeculae in all regions. No significant gender-related differences were found. In conclusion, in this study we describe a new, simple method for separation of horizontal and vertical bone tissue. This method has been applied on frontal vertebral sections. Trabecular bone thickness measured with the parallel-plate model showed that the thickness of horizontal trabeculae decreases significantly with age, whereas the thickness of vertical trabeculae did not decrease significantly with age. Furthermore, although the relative loss of trabeculae was larger for horizontal trabeculae than for vertical trabeculae, the absolute loss of vertical trabeculae was higher than that of horizontal trabeculae.

Keywords: Vertebral body; Bone structure; Aging; Thickness; Horizontal trabeculae; Vertical trabeculae
Links

DOI: 10.1016/S8756-3282(02)00801-3

PubMed: 12110426

WoS: 000177036000023
History

Received: 2001-11-26

Revised: 2002-02-07

Accepted: 2002-03-28

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2013	Thomsen JS, Niklassen AS, Ebbesen EN, Brüel A. Age-related changes of vertical and horizontal lumbar vertebral trabecular 3D bone microstructure is different in women and men. Bone. November 2013;57(1):47-55.
2022	Lamarche BA, Thomsen JS, Andreasen CM, Lievers WB, Andersen TL. 2D size of trabecular bone structure units (BSU) correlate more strongly with 3D architectural parameters than age in human vertebrae. Bone. July 2022;160:116399.
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2020	Lamarche BA. Morphometric Changes With Age in Human Trabecular Bone Structural Units (BSU) of the Lumbar Spine [Master's thesis]. Sudbury, ON: Laurentian University; 2020.
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