Chan Andrea H W, Crowder Christian M, Rogers Tracy L
Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4L8.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2007 Jan;132(1):80-8. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20465.
Histological methods for the estimation of age at death using cortical bone are based on the evaluation of microstructural changes over time. Since histological analysis is a destructive method, most techniques attempt to limit the amount of cortical bone needed for analysis. Sample location, however, can have a significant effect on the accuracy of these methods. Furthermore, research demonstrates that both intersection and intrasection variation is present at the midshaft of the femur, which is the primary location for estimating age at death in humans. This research determines the extent of regional variation within the adult human femur and its effect on age estimation. Secondary osteon lamellae and Haversian canal ratio and cortical thickness were quantified. Thompson's All Males Left Femur regression equation was used to estimate age. Results show that significant regional variation occurs in the estimated ages derived from the posterior aspect of the femoral shaft and significant intrasection variation occurs in age estimates from the mid and mid-distal cross-sections. Thus, the inter and intrasection variation that occurs in bone remodeling within the femoral cortex has the potential to produce significant differences amongst age estimates taken from various femoral diaphyseal locations compared to the age estimated from the standard location used in Thompson's core method (1978). The results indicate that the use of this histological method is dependant on the ability to correctly identify the four anatomical locations, but the extracted core used for age estimation is not necessarily confined to the anterior midshaft.
使用皮质骨估计死亡年龄的组织学方法基于对随时间变化的微观结构改变的评估。由于组织学分析是一种破坏性方法，大多数技术都试图限制分析所需的皮质骨量。然而，样本位置会对这些方法的准确性产生显著影响。此外，研究表明，在股骨中轴存在交叉和截面内变异，而股骨中轴是估计人类死亡年龄的主要位置。本研究确定了成年人类股骨内区域变异的程度及其对年龄估计的影响。对次生骨单位板层、哈弗斯管比率和皮质厚度进行了量化。使用汤普森的所有男性左股骨回归方程来估计年龄。结果表明，从股骨干后侧得出的估计年龄存在显著的区域变异，并且从中部和中远端横截面得出的年龄估计存在显著的截面内变异。因此，与汤普森核心方法（1978年）中使用的标准位置估计的年龄相比，股骨皮质内骨重塑中发生的交叉和截面内变异有可能在从股骨干不同位置获取的年龄估计之间产生显著差异。结果表明，这种组织学方法的使用取决于正确识别四个解剖位置的能力，但用于年龄估计的提取核心不一定局限于前侧中轴。
