A comparison, using Micro-CT, of the architecture of cancellous bone from the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine using 532 vertebral bodies from 20 body donors and 2 mammals

Introduction Structure of bone alters with increasing age. Material and structural properties are both important for bone strength. Despite having an ageing society, there is a paucity of data from elderly subjects relating to these parameters. We examined bone cylinders from the centres of vertebral bodies C1 to L5 from elderly human subjects, a boar and a deer with respect to their bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th.), separation (Tb.Sp.), trabecular orientation (SMI) and degree of anisotropy (DA).

Methods 532 core samples (Jamshidi needle 8G) were stabilised in wet gauze and prepared in 1.5ml Eppendorf reaction vessels. The examination was made using a µ-CT (SKYSCAN 1172, RJL Micro &Analytic Company, Germany). A flat field correction, and generation of phantoms (reference), with density of 0,25 g/cm3 and 0,75 g/cm3 was carried out. This study received the approval of the ethics committee of the University of Rostock (Nr. A 2017-0072). Data was analysed using SPSS, Version 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA). Comparisons between the groups utilized the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by a pairwise comparison. The Shapiro-Wilk-test was used to test for Normal distribution.

Results Regarding BV/TV (p < 0.001), Tb.Th. (p = 0.001), Tb.Sp. (p < 0.001), SMI (p < 0.001) there were statistically significant differences between the segments of the vertebral column. A pairwise comparison yielded the following: BV/TV, CS vs. TS, p = 0.010, CS vs. LS, p < 0.001, TS vs. LS, p > 0.05; Tb.Th., CS vs. TS, p = 0.045, CS vs. LS, p < 0.001, TS vs. LS, p > 0.05; Tb.Sp., CS vs. TS, p = 0.004, CS vs. LS, p = 0.001, TS vs. LS, p > 0.05; SMI, CS vs. TS, p = 0.006, CS vs. LS, p < 0.001, TS vs. LS, p > 0.05. Cervical vertebrae have a unique microarchitecture which gives them their strength. Specifically, this entails a higher BV/TV, Tb.Th. and lower Tb.Sp. In addition, the SMI demonstrates more plates than rods. Regarding the deer all values were normally distributed and there were no statistically significant differences between the segments with regard to all parameters collected. For the boar the only difference was found concerning the DA: for the comparison of CS vs. TS there was a highly significant difference (p < 0.001), and no difference in TS vs. LS. All other values were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

Discussion In men the CS has a more dense and thicker structure than the other parts of the vertical column. Our previous results concerning a comparison with quadrupeds show that their bone structure in the vertebral column differs not so much despite their heavy heads.

Keywords Bone structure micro-CT, vertebral column, osteoporosis

Korrespondenzadresse Guido Schröder, Clinic for Surgery, Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, Warnow Hospital Buetzow, Buetzow

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Publication History

Article published online:
05 March 2021