Summary
We have analysed the development of the cartilage canals in the tarsal navicular in 26 human foetuses and infants, aged between 12 weeks after gestation and 10 months, using a technique of transparentation and serial histological sections of the bone. The formation of cartilage canals starts in the first 12 to 13 weeks of gestation and can be seen by transparentation at 17 weeks after gestation. They increase in number with the age of the foetus or infant and develop a branching pattern almost to the centre of the tarsal navicular. They begin and are more numerous on the dorsal surface of the cartilage structure.
Résumé
L'objet de notre travail est d'analyser le développement des canaux de cartilage du scaphoïde tarsien grâce à 26 spécimens humains d'âge compris entre 12 semaines de gestation et 10 mois après la naissance. Une méthode de transparence et d'histologie sérielle de l'os nous a permis de noter l'apparition des canaux et leur nombre par os. Les résultats obtenus nous montrent que: la formation des canaux dans le scaphoïde tarsien commence dès la 12ème ou 13ème semaine de la gestation; avec la méthode de transparence, les canaux sont évidents après 17 semaines de gestation; le nombre des canaux augmente durant la gestation; ils sont plus nombreux sur la face dorsale des os; et le schéma de distribution des canaux ne se modifie pas au cours de la gestation.
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Delgado-Baeza, E., Santos-Alvarez, I., Epeldegui-Torre, T.E. et al. Cartilage canals in the tarsal navicular of the human foetus and infant. International Orthopaedics 17, 30–33 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195220