Cortical and trabecular morphometric properties of the human calvarium

Adanty, Kevin<sup>1,2</sup>; Rabey, Karyne N.<sup>3,4</sup>; Doschak, Michael R.<sup>5</sup>; Bhagavathula, Kapil B.<sup>2</sup>; Hogan, James D.<sup>2</sup>; Romanyk, Dan L.<sup>2</sup>; Adeeb, Samer<sup>6</sup>; Ouellet, Simon<sup>7</sup>; Plaisted, Thomas A.<sup>8</sup>; Satapathy, Sikhanda S.<sup>8</sup>; Dennison, Christopher R.<sup>1,2</sup>

Affiliations

¹The Biomedical Instrumentation Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Postal Address: 10-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211-116 Street NW, Edmonton T6G 1H9, Alberta, Canada

²Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Postal Address: 10-203 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211-116 Street NW, Edmonton T6G 1H9, Alberta, Canada

³Department of Surgery, Division of Anatomy, University of Alberta. Postal Address: 2J2.00 WC Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, 8440-112 St. NW, Edmonton T6G 2R7, Alberta, Canada

⁴Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta. Postal Address: 13-15 Tory Building, Edmonton T6G 2H4, Alberta, Canada

⁵Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta. Postal Address: 2-35, Medical Sciences Building, 8613 - 114 Street, Edmonton T6G 2H7, Alberta, Canada

⁶Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Postal Address: 7-203 Danadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211-116 Street NW, Edmonton T6G 1H9, Alberta, Canada

⁷Defence Research and Development Canada, Postal Address: Valcartier Research Centre, 2459, Route de la Bravoure, Quebec City, Quebec G3J 1X5, Canada

⁸US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command - Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005, United States of America

Abstract and keywords

There is currently a gap in the literature that quantitatively describes the complex bone microarchitecture within the diploë (trabecular bone) and cortical layers of the human calvarium. The purpose of this study was to determine the morphometric properties of the diploë and cortical tables of the human calvarium in which key interacting factors of sex, location on the calvarium, and layers of the sandwich structure were considered. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was utilized to capture images at 18 μm resolution of male (n = 26) and female (n = 24) embalmed calvarium specimens in the frontal and parietal regions (N = 50). All images were post-processed and analyzed using vendor bundled CT-Analyzer software to determine the morphometric properties of the diploë and cortical layers. A two-way mixed (repeated measures) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine diploë morphometric properties accounting for factors of sex and location. A three-way mixed ANOVA was performed to determine cortical morphometric properties accounting for factors of cortical layer (inner and outer table), sex, and location. The study revealed no two-way interaction effects between sex and location on the diploë morphometry except for fractal dimension. Trabecular thickness and separation in the diploë were significantly greater in the male specimens; however, females showed a greater number of trabeculae and fractal dimension on average. Parietal specimens revealed a greater porosity, trabecular separation, and deviation from an ideal plate structure, but a lesser number of trabeculae and connectivity compared to the frontal location. Additionally, the study observed a lower density and greater porosity in the inner cortical layer than the outer which may be due to clear distinctions between each layer's physiological environment. The study provides valuable insight into the quantitative morphometry of the calvarium in which finite element modelers of the skull can refer to when designing detailed heterogenous or subject-specific skull models to effectively predict injury. Furthermore, this study contributes towards the recent developments on physical surrogate models of the skull which require approximate measures of calvarium bone architecture in order to effectively fabricate a model and then accurately simulate a traumatic head impact event.

Keywords: Human calvarium; Bone morphometry; Diploë; Cortical table; Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT)

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2021.115931

PubMed: 33766803

WoS: 000646258000009

History

Received: 2020-11-2

Revised: 2021-03-10

Accepted: 2021-03-15

Online: 2021-03-23

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Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
2022	Adanty K, Brice A, Rabey KN, Adeeb S, Romanyk DL, Dennison CR. The design of a preliminary surrogate model of the human calvarium using a readily available epoxy. In: Proceedings of the 2022 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Injury. September 14-16, 2022; Porto, Portugal.928-929.
2022	Moon RJ, D'Angelo S, Crozier SR, Godfrey KM, Davies JH, Cooper C, Harvey NC. Is the skull responsive to bone mineralisation stimuli in children? Bone. July 2022;160:116415.
2023	Li Y. Toward a Biofidelic and Repeatable Physical Head-Brain Model for Application in Blunt Impact [PhD thesis]. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta; 2023.