Imbesi R, Mazzone V, Castrogiovanni P
Department of Bio-Medical Science, University of Catania, Italy.
Clin Ter. 2011;162(5):e129-34.
Recognition and identification of bone fragments are of primary importance to confirm or exclude the human origin of skeletal remains. When badly degraded fragments of bone are found, this may be impossible by gross morphology alone, and histological methods have to be used. Aim of this study is to correlate the compact bone tissue microstructure in various classes of mammals, including humans, and birds in order to find an adequate identification key.
We used long bone diaphysis samples. Bone fragments had been fixed in 4% formalin and then decalcified in EDTA (ethylene-diamin-tetra-acetate). After decalcification, samples had been processed for routine paraffin inclusion. Transverse sections had been cut and stained with hematoxylin-eosin staining, and examined by light microscopy (Nikon Eclipse E400®).
The results of our study show that in bone tissue samples from various classes of mammals, including humans, and birds the osteonic structure shows peculiar features, often depending on the rate of bone remodeling, different in different animal species.
We conclude that a careful microscopic analysis of bone tissue and the characterization of distinctive osteonic features could give a major contribution to forensic medicine to obtain a more reliable recognition of bone fragments of unknown origin.
识别和鉴定骨碎片对于确认或排除骨骼遗骸的人类来源至关重要。当发现严重降解的骨碎片时，仅通过大体形态可能无法实现，必须使用组织学方法。本研究的目的是关联包括人类在内的各类哺乳动物以及鸟类的致密骨组织微观结构，以便找到合适的鉴定方法。
我们使用了长骨骨干样本。骨碎片先用4%福尔马林固定，然后在乙二胺四乙酸（EDTA）中脱钙。脱钙后，样本进行常规石蜡包埋处理。制作横切面，用苏木精-伊红染色，并通过光学显微镜（尼康Eclipse E400®）检查。
我们的研究结果表明，在包括人类在内的各类哺乳动物以及鸟类的骨组织样本中，骨单位结构呈现出独特的特征，这通常取决于骨重塑的速率，不同动物物种有所不同。
我们得出结论，对骨组织进行仔细的显微镜分析以及对独特骨单位特征的表征，可为法医学做出重大贡献，从而更可靠地识别未知来源的骨碎片。
