Primary bone retention in a young adult male with limb disuse: a bioarchaeological case study

Human femur morphology and histology variation with ancestry and behaviour in an ancient sample from Vietnam

“…Furthermore, extreme physiological stress and poor health were evidenced by treponemal disease, malaria, thalassaemia, anaemia and scurvy identified in both adults and children (Adams et al, 2021;McDonell & Oxenham, 2014;Vlok et al, 2020;2021a;2021b). Walker et al (2022a) recently examined humeral and femoral bone histology in an individual from Mán Bạc afflicted with paraplegia (possibly quadriplegia), describing microscopic changes in skeletal tissue in response to muscular dysfunction. Otherwise, no other bone histology data are currently available for this site, and the broader region.…”

“…Bone modelling and remodelling are processes actioned by bone-depositing osteoblasts, boneresorbing osteoclasts, and the receptive osteocyte network that adapt bone to function (Beck, 2022;Pivonka et al, 2018;Ruff et al, 2006). These cells form and rework (modelling) bone morphology during early ontogeny and under periods of extreme loading (Cambra-Moo et al, 2012;Maggiano, 2012;Pearson & Lieberman, 2004;Walker et al, 2022a; see Supplementary Note 1), and maintain skeletal physiology by remodelling bone throughout the lifespan in response to loading changes; localised damage; and systemic physiological signals (Burr, 2002;Drapeau & Streeter, 2006;Parfitt, 2002;Robling et al, 2006). In cortical bone, osteoclasts and osteoblasts are linked temporally and spatially in the Basic Multicellular Unit (BMU) which excavates a tunnel and refills it centripetally with lamellae around a blood vessel known as a Haversian canal (Allen & Burr, 2014;Boyce & Xing, 2008).…”