Walker Emma C, McGregor Narelle E, Chan Audrey S M, Sims Natalie A
Bone Cell Biology and Disease Unit, St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia.
Centre for Muscle Research, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Bio Protoc. 2021 Jan 5;11(1):e3873. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3873.
Bone strength is controlled by both bone mass, and the organization and quality of the bone material. The current standard method for measuring bone mass in mouse and rat studies is micro-computed tomography. This method typically uses a single threshold to identify bone material in the cortical and trabecular regions. However, this single threshold method obscures information about the mineral content of the bone material and depends on normal morphology to separately analyze cortical and trabecular structures. To extend this method to identify bone mass at multiple density levels, we have established a protocol for unbiased selection and application of multiple thresholds using a standard laboratory-based micro-computed tomography instrument. This non-invasive method can be applied to longitudinal studies and archived samples and provides additional information about bone structure and strength.
骨强度受骨量以及骨材料的组织结构和质量控制。在小鼠和大鼠研究中，目前测量骨量的标准方法是显微计算机断层扫描。该方法通常使用单一阈值来识别皮质骨和小梁骨区域中的骨材料。然而，这种单一阈值方法会模糊有关骨材料矿物质含量的信息，并且依赖于正常形态来分别分析皮质骨和小梁骨结构。为了扩展该方法以识别多个密度水平的骨量，我们建立了一种使用基于标准实验室的显微计算机断层扫描仪器无偏选择和应用多个阈值的方案。这种非侵入性方法可应用于纵向研究和存档样本，并提供有关骨结构和强度的额外信息。
