CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 8

Osteonal Microcracking Pattern: A Potential Vitality Marker in Human Bone Trauma

Schwab, Nathalie, Galtés, Ignasi, Winter-Buchwalder, Michelle, Ortega-Sánchez, Marisa, Jordana, Xavier·2023·Biology
DOI 10.3390/biology12030399PMC PMC10045383
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

In forensic anthropology, the differential diagnosis between peri- and postmortem bone fractures is mainly based on macroscopic criteria. In contrast, studies focusing on bone histology are very scarce. In a recent publication, we showed that (perimortem) fractures in fresh human bones exhibit a different osteonal microcracking pattern than (postmortem) damage in dry bones. In the current work, we explored whether this osteonal microcracking pattern is distinctive of the vitality of (perimortem) fresh bone fractures. To this end, we compared the number, length and structural distribution of microcracks in vital humeral fractures from forensic autopsy cases with experimentally reproduced, three point-bending fractures in fresh and dry human humeri. Half of the fresh experimental bones were fractured whilst applying axial compression, i.e., attempting to simulate intra vitam conditions more accurately. The results showed a similar osteonal microcracking pattern between vital fractures and experimental fractures of fresh humeri subjected to axial compression. Interestingly, this pattern was significantly different from the one observed in the experimental fractures of fresh humeri without axial compression and dry humeri. This supports our hypothesis that the osteonal microcracking pattern can potentially be used as a marker for vital perimortem trauma, providing a histomorphometric tool for fracture timing.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/biology12030399

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A potential explanation for the non-significant differences is the impact-related nature of BFT_autopsy cases, consisting of traffic accidents and falls, which transfers more kinetic energy, involves triaxial stress states and multiple high impact points, unlike a simple three-point bend.

    “A potential explanation for this may be impact-related nature of the BFT_autopsy cases, consisting of traffic accidents and falls, which transfers more kinetic energy, involves triaxial stress states and multiple high impact points on the bone, unlike a fracture caused by a relatively simple three-point bend [16,30].”

    From Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones (2024) · cites this paper as [16]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • So far, there has not been a focus on osteonal microcracking patterns in relation to trauma type but only literature on BFT cases and trauma timing.

    “So far, there has not been a focus on osteonal microcracking patterns in relation to trauma type but only literature on BFT cases and trauma timing [14,15,16].”

    From Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones (2024) · cites this paper as [16]

    The Introduction describes prior osteonal microcracking work on blunt-force trauma and peri- versus postmortem timing; the Methods say this study also used only blunt-force fractures. These passages support the description of the work discussed, but do not establish the broader claim that no research has focused on osteonal microcracking patterns across trauma types. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The mechanics surrounding MCKs are still yet to be fully understood and have mainly been investigated in terms of trauma timing in BFT cases.

    “The mechanics surrounding MCKs are still yet to be fully understood and have mainly been investigated in terms trauma timing in BFT cases [14,15,16].”

    From Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones (2024) · cites this paper as [16]

  • Void structures inside the osteon such as Haversian canals, osteocyte lacunae and canaliculi act as stress concentration sites where MCKs may initiate.

    “In the literature, the void structures inside the osteon such as the Haversian canals, osteocyte lacunae and canaliculi are said to act as stress concentration sites where MCKs may initiate [12,13,15,16].”

    From Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones (2024) · cites this paper as [16]

  • In fresh BFT cases, a higher proportion of osteonal MCKs can be observed when compared to dry bone which has greater interstitial MCKs.

    “These studies have demonstrated that in fresh BFT cases, a higher proportion of osteonal MCKs can be observed when compared to dry bone which has greater interstitial MCKs [15,16].”

    From Osteonal Damage Patterns from Ballistic and Blunt Force Trauma in Human Long Bones (2024) · cites this paper as [16]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 37

  1. [2]Christensen A.M. Passalacqua N.V. Bartelink E.J. Forensic Anthropology: Current Methods and Practice Academic Press Cambridge, MA, USA 2019 0-12-815735-6
  2. [3]Cappella A. Amadasi A. Castoldi E. Mazzarelli D. Gaudio D. Cattaneo C. The Difficult Task of Assessing Perimortem and Postmortem Fractures on the Skeleton: A Blind Text on 210 Fractures of Known Origin J. Forensic Sci. 2014 59 1598 1601 10.1111/1556-4029.12539 24990801 · DOI
  3. [4]Symes S.A. L’Abbé E.N. Stull K.E. LaCroix M. Pokines J.T. Taphonomy and the timing of bone fractures in trauma analysis Manual of Forensic Taphonomy CRC Press Boca Raton, FL, USA 2014 341 365
  4. [5]Symes S.A. Ericka N. L’Abbé E.N.C. Wolff I. Dirkmaat D.C. Chapter 17—Interpreting traumatic injury to bone in medicolegal investigations A Companion Forensic Anthropology John Wiley & Sons Hoboken, NJ, USA 2012 Volume 39 340
  5. [6]Wieberg D.A.M. Wescott D.J. Estimating the Timing of Long Bone Fractures: Correlation Between the Postmortem Interval, Bone Moisture Content, and Blunt Force Trauma Fracture Characteristics J. Forensic Sci. 2008 53 1028 1034 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00801.x 18624891 · DOI
  6. [7]Ortner D. Differential diagnosis of skeletal injuries Skeletal Trauma: Identification of Injuries Resulting from Human Rights Abuse and Armed Conflict CRC Press Boca Raton, FL, USA 2008 21 86
  7. [8]Pechníková M. Porta D. Cattaneo C. Distinguishing between perimortem and postmortem fractures: Are osteons of any help? Int. J. Leg. Med. 2011 125 591 595 10.1007/s00414-011-0570-9 21487677 · DOI · Paper page
  8. [9]Winter-Buchwalder M. Schwab N. Galtés I. Ortega-Sánchez M. Scheirs S. Jordana X. Microcracking pattern in fractured bones: New approach for distinguishing between peri- and postmortem fractures Int. J. Leg. Med. 2022 1 8 10.1007/s00414-022-02875-1 PMC10772004 36066767 · DOI
  9. [10]Kieser J. Taylor M. Carr D. Forensic Biomechanics John Wiley & Sons Hoboken, NJ, USA 2012 978-1-119-99011-6
  10. [11]Cohen H. Kugel C. May H. Medlej B. Stein D. Slon V. Brosh T. Hershkovitz I. The influence of impact direction and axial loading on the bone fracture pattern Forensic Sci. Int. 2017 277 197 206 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.05.015 28651178 · DOI
  11. [12]Scheirs S. Hevink B. Ortega-Sánchez M. Jordana X. McGlynn H. Rodriguez-Baeza A. Malgosa A. Galtés I. Intra vitam trauma pattern: Changing the paradigm of forensic anthropology? Int. J. Leg. Med. 2019 133 661 668 10.1007/s00414-018-1958-6 30377776 · DOI
  12. [13]Scheirs S. Malgosa A. Sanchez-Molina D. Ortega-Sánchez M. Velázquez-Ameijide J. Arregui-Dalmases C. Medallo-Muñiz J. Galtés I. New insights in the analysis of blunt force trauma in human bones. Preliminary results Int. J. Leg. Med. 2017 131 867 875 10.1007/s00414-016-1514-1 27942870 · DOI
  13. [14]Sen S. Ando T. Kobayashi E. Miyamoto H. Ohashi S. Tanaka S. Joung S. Park I.-H. Sakuma I. Development of femoral bone fracture model simulating muscular contraction force by pneumatic rubber actuator Proceedings of the 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Chicago, IL, USA 26–30 August 2014 IEEE New York, NY, USA 2014 Volume 2014 6872 6875 25571575
  14. [15]Ebacher V. Guy P. Oxland T.R. Wang R. Sub-lamellar microcracking and roles of canaliculi in human cortical bone Acta Biomater. 2012 8 1093 1100 10.1016/j.actbio.2011.11.013 22134162 · DOI · Paper page
  15. [16]De Boer H.H. Wood M.B. Bone changes in the vascularised fibular graft J. Bone Jt. Surgery. Br. Vol. 1989 71 374 378 10.1302/0301-620X.71B3.2722923 2722923 · DOI
  16. [17]O’Brien F.J. Taylor D. Lee T.C. The effect of bone microstructure on the initiation and growth of microcracks J. Orthop. Res. 2005 23 475 480 10.1016/j.orthres.2004.08.005 15734265 · DOI
  17. [18]Skedros J.G. Holmes J.L. Vajda E.G. Bloebaum R.D. Cement lines of secondary osteons in human bone are not mineral-deficient: New data in a historical perspective Anat. Rec. Part A Discov. Mol. Cell. Evol. Biol. Off. Publ. Am. Assoc. Anat. 2005 286 781 803 10.1002/ar.a.20214 16037990 · DOI
  18. [19]Milovanovic P. vom Scheidt A. Mletzko K. Sarau G. Püschel K. Djuric M. Amling M. Christiansen S. Busse B. Bone tissue aging affects mineralization of cement lines Bone 2018 110 187 193 10.1016/j.bone.2018.02.004 29427789 · DOI
  19. [21]Wang M. Gao X. Abdel-Wahab A. Li S. Zimmermann E.A. Riedel C. Busse B. Silberschmidt V.V. Effect of micromorphology of cortical bone tissue on crack propagation under dynamic loading EPJ Web Conf. 2015 94 03005 10.1051/epjconf/20159403005 · DOI
  20. [22]Hazenberg J.G. Taylor D. Lee T.C. The role of osteocytes and bone microstructure in preventing osteoporotic fractures Osteoporos. Int. 2007 18 1 8 10.1007/s00198-006-0222-y 16972016 · DOI
  21. [23]Boyce T.M. Fyhrie D.P. Glotkowski M.C. Radin E.L. Schaffler M.B. Damage type and strain mode associations in human compact bone bending fatigue J. Orthop. Res. 1998 16 322 329 10.1002/jor.1100160308 9671927 · DOI
  22. [24]Jepsen K.J. Akkus O.J. Majeska R.J. Nadeau J.H. Hierarchical relationship between bone traits and mechanical properties in inbred mice Mamm. Genome 2003 14 97 104 10.1007/s00335-002-3045-y 12584605 · DOI
  23. [25]Smit T.H. Closing the osteon: Do osteocytes sense strain rate rather than fluid flow? BioEssays 2021 43 2000327 10.1002/bies.202000327 34111316 · DOI
  24. [26]Burr D.B. Martin R.B. Schaffler M.B. Radin E.L. Bone remodeling in response to in vivo fatigue microdamage J. Biomech. 1985 18 189 200 10.1016/0021-9290(85)90204-0 3997903 · DOI
  25. [28]Robling A. Castillo A. Turner C. Biomechanical and Molecular Regulation of Bone Remodeling Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. 2006 8 455 498 10.1146/annurev.bioeng.8.061505.095721 16834564 · DOI · Paper page
  26. [29]Aarden E.M. Nijweide P.J. Burger E.H. Function of osteocytes in bone J. Cell. Biochem. 1994 55 287 299 10.1002/jcb.240550304 7962159 · DOI
  27. [30]Burger E.H. Klein-Nulend J. Van Der Plas A. Nijweide P.J. Function of Osteocytes in Bone—Their Role in Mechanotransduction J. Nutr. 1995 125 2020S 2023S 10.1093/jn/125.suppl_7.2020S 7602386 · DOI
  28. [31]Turner C.H. Pavalko F.M. Mechanotransduction and functional response of the skeleton to physical stress: The mechanisms and mechanics of bone adaptation J. Orthop. Sci. 1998 3 346 355 10.1007/s007760050064 9811988 · DOI
  29. [32]You L.-D. Weinbaum S. Cowin S.C. Schaffler M.B. Ultrastructure of the osteocyte process and its pericellular matrix Anat. Rec. Part A Discov. Mol. Cell. Evol. Biol. Off. Publ. Am. Assoc. Anat. 2004 278 505 513 10.1002/ar.a.20050 15164337 · DOI
  30. [33]Currey J.D. Bones: Structure and Mechanics Princeton University Press Princeton, NJ, USA 2006 978-0-691-12804-7
  31. [34]Ritchie R.O. Mechanisms of fatigue-crack propagation in ductile and brittle solids Int. J. Fract. 1999 100 55 83 10.1023/A:1018655917051 · DOI
  32. [35]Parfitt A.M. New concepts of bone remodeling: A unified spatial and temporal model with physiologic and pathophysiologic implications Bone Loss and Osteoporosis: An Anthropological Perspective Agarwal S.C. Stout S.D. Springer Boston, MA, USA 2003 3 17 978-1-4419-8891-1
  33. [36]Schaffler M.B. Choi K. Milgrom C. Aging and matrix microdamage accumulation in human compact bone Bone 1995 17 521 525 10.1016/8756-3282(95)00370-3 8835305 · DOI
  34. [37]Ebacher V. Tang C. McKay H. Oxland T.R. Guy P. Wang R. Strain redistribution and cracking behavior of human bone during bending Bone 2007 40 1265 1275 10.1016/j.bone.2006.12.065 17317352 · DOI
  35. [38]Carter D.R. Hayes W.C. Compact Bone Fatigue Damage: A Microscopic Examination Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. 1977 127 265 10.1097/00003086-197709000-00039 912990 · DOI
  36. [39]Heřt J. Fiala P. Petrtỳl M. Osteon orientation of the diaphysis of the long bones in man Bone 1994 15 269 277 10.1016/8756-3282(94)90288-7 8068447 · DOI
  37. [40]Petrtýl M. Heřt J. Fiala P. Spatial organization of the haversian bone in man J. Biomech. 1996 29 161 169 10.1016/0021-9290(94)00035-2 8849809 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Schwab, N., Galtés, I., Winter-Buchwalder, M., Ortega-Sánchez, M., & Jordana, X.
Affiliations
  • Biological Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
  • Forensic Anthropology Unit, Catalonian Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science (IMLCFC), Ciutat de la Justícia, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 111 Edifci G, 08075 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
ORCID
Venue
Biology
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2023-03-03
Volume
12
Issue
3
Pages
399
ISSN
2079-7737
DOI
10.3390/biology12030399
PMC
PMC10045383
Cited by
8
References
1
Language
en
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Funders
  • Research Group in Biological Anthropology (2021SGR00183, PID2021-124112NB-100)
  • Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (2021SGR00183, PID2021-124112NB-100)

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review