Summary
The mean wall thickness (MWT) and duration of formation periods (sigmaf) of trabecular bone packets have been measured in iliac crest biopsies following double tetracycline labeling from 9 women having primary osteoporosis, with vertebral crush fractures and reduced trabecular bone volume (TBV), and 9 age- and sex-matched controls. The MWT of the osteoporotic biopsies was significantly less than that of the controls and was negatively correlated with age in the latter. There was also a positive correlation between MWT and TBV in the controls but not in the osteoporotics. Sigmaf, in days, showed a tendency to decline with age in the control biopsies and was further decreased in the osteoporotic patients. These results suggest that a major contribution to the negative skeletal balance existing in both primary osteoporosis and physiological osteopenia is a decrease in bone formation, caused by a reduction in the life span of the osteoblastic population at the basic multicellular unit (BMU) level.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Meunier, P., Courpron, P., Edouard, C., Bernard, J., Bringuier, J., Vignon, G.: Physiological senile involution and pathological rarefaction of bone, Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.2:239–256, 1973
Frost, H. M.: Bone Remodelling Dynamics. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill. 1963
Lips, P., Courpron, P., Meunier, P. J.: Mean wall thickness of trabecular bone packets in the human iliac crest: changes with age, Calcif. Tissue Res.26:13–17, 1978
Meunier, P. J., Courpron, P., Edouard, C., Alexandre, C., Bressot, C., Lips, P., Boyce, B. F.: Bone histomorphometry in osteoporotic states. In U. S. Barzel (ed.): Osteoporosis II, pp. 27–47. Grune & Stratton, New York, 1979
Courpron, P., Meunier, P., Bressot, C., Giroux, J. M.: Amount of bone in iliac crest biopsy. Significance of the trabecular bone volume. Its values in normal and in pathological conditions. In P. J. Meunier (ed.): Bone Histomorphometry, Second International Workshop, Lyon, 1976, pp. 39–53. Société de la Nouvelle Imprimerie Fournié, phometry, Second International Workship, Lyon, 1976, pp. 39–53. Société de la Nouvelle Imprimerir Fournié, Toulouse, 1977
Frost, H. M.: Tetracycline-based histological analysis of bone remodeling, Calcif. Tissue Res.3:211–237, 1969
Frost, H. M.: A method of analysis of trabecular bone dynamics. In P. J. Meunier (ed.): Bone Histomorphometry, Second International Workshop, Lyon 1976, pp. 445–476. Société de la Nouvelle Imprimerie Fournié, Toulouse, 1977
Melsen, F., Mosekilde, L.: Tetracycline double-labeling of iliac trabecular bone in 41 normal adults, Calcif. Tissue Res.26:99–102, 1978
Meunier, P., Edouard, C., Richard, D., Laurent, J.: Histomorphometry of osteoid tissue. The hyperosteoidoses. In P. J. Meunier (ed.): Bone Histomorphometry, Second International Workshop, Lyon 1976, pp. 249–262. Société de la Nouvelle Imprimerie Fournié, Toulouse, 1977
Meunier, P., Courpron, P., Giroux, J. M., Edouard, C., Bernard, J., Vignon, G.: Bone histomorphometry as applied to research on osteoporosis and to the diagnosis of “hyperosteoidosis states,” Calcif. Tissue Res. [Suppl.]21:354–360, 1976
Jowsey, J. O. M., Offord, K. P.: Osteoporosis: juvenile, idiopathic, and postmenopausal. In J. E. Horton, T. M. Tarpley, W. F. Davis (eds.): Proceedings, Mechanisms of Localized Bone Loss, pp. 345–363. Supplement of Calcified Tissue Abstracts, Information Retrieval Ltd., London, 1978
Epker, B. N., Frost, H. M.: A histological study of remodeling at the periosteal, Haversian canal, cortical endosteal, and trabecular endosteal surfaces in human rib, Anat. Rec.152:129–135, 1965
Courpron, P., Meunier, P., Edouard, C., Bernard, J., Bringuier, J.-P., Vignon, G.: Données histologiques quantitatives sur le vieillissement osseux humain, Rev. Rhum. Mal. Osteoartic.40:469–483, 1973
Schenk, R. K., Olah, A. J., Merz, W. A.: Bone cell counts. In B. Frame, A. M. Parfitt, H. Duncan (eds.): Clinical Aspects of Metabolic Bone Disease, International Congress Series, No. 270, pp. 103–113. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, 1973
Parfitt, A. M., Villanueva, A. R., Crouch, M. M., Mathews, C. H. E., Duncan, H.: Classification of osteoid seams by combined use of cell morphology and tetracycline labelling. Evidence for intermittency of mineralization. In P. J. Meunier (ed.): Bone Histomorphometry, Second International Workshop, Lyon 1976, pp. 299–310. Société de la Nouvelle Imprimerie Fournié, Toulouse, 1977
Newton-John, H. F., Morgan, D. B.: The loss of bone with age, osteoporosis and fractures, Clin. Orthop.71:229–252, 1970
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Darby, A.J., Meunier, P.J. Mean wall thickness and formation periods of trabecular bone packets in idiopathic osteoporosis. Calcif Tissue Int 33, 199–204 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02409438
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02409438