Hale Amanda R, Ross Ann H
SNA International for Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Oahu, HI 96853, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Biology (Basel). 2023 Mar 3;12(3):403. doi: 10.3390/biology12030403.
It is well understood that intrinsic factors of bone contribute to bone diagenesis, including bone porosity, crystallinity, and the ratio of organic to mineral components. However, histological analyses have largely been limited to adult bones, although with some exceptions. Considering that many of these properties are different between juvenile and adult bone, the purpose of this study is to investigate if these differences may result in increased degradation observed histologically in fetal and juvenile bone. Thirty-two fetal (n = 16) and juvenile (n = 16) femora subject to different depositions over a period of two years were sectioned for histological observation. Degradation was scored using an adapted tunneling index. Results showed degradation related to microbial activity in both fetal and juvenile remains across depositions as early as three months. Buried juvenile remains consistently showed the greatest degradation over time, while the blanket fetal remains showed more minimal degradation. This is likely related to the buried remains' greater contact with surrounding soil and groundwater during deposition. Further, most of the degradation was seen in the subendosteal region, followed by the subperiosteal region, which may suggest the initial microbial attack is from endogenous sources.
众所周知，骨骼的内在因素有助于骨成岩作用，包括骨孔隙率、结晶度以及有机成分与矿物质成分的比例。然而，组织学分析在很大程度上仅限于成年骨骼，不过也有一些例外情况。鉴于这些特性在幼年骨骼和成年骨骼之间存在诸多差异，本研究的目的是调查这些差异是否可能导致在胎儿和幼年骨骼的组织学观察中发现的降解增加。对32根经过两年不同沉积的胎儿（n = 16）和幼年（n = 16）股骨进行切片以进行组织学观察。使用改良的隧道指数对降解进行评分。结果显示，早在三个月时，胎儿和幼年遗骸在不同沉积条件下的降解都与微生物活动有关。随着时间的推移，埋藏的幼年遗骸始终显示出最大程度的降解，而覆盖的胎儿遗骸降解程度则较小。这可能与埋藏遗骸在沉积过程中与周围土壤和地下水的接触更多有关。此外，大部分降解出现在骨内膜区域，其次是骨膜下区域，这可能表明最初的微生物攻击来自内源性来源。
