Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Am J Biol Anthropol. 2023 Oct;182(2):318-329. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24825. Epub 2023 Jul 29.
In modern bone biology, the term "remodeling" generally refers to internal bone turnover that creates secondary osteons. However, it is also widely used by skeletal biologists, including biological anthropologists as a catch-all term to refer to different skeletal changes. In this review, we investigated how "remodeling" is used across topics on skeletal biology in biological anthropology to demonstrate potential problems with such pervasive use of a generalized term.
Using PubMed and Google Scholar, we selected and reviewed 205 articles that use the term remodeling to describe skeletal processes and have anthropological implications. Nine edited volumes were also reviewed as examples of collaborative work by different experts to demonstrate the diverse and extensive use of the term remodeling.
Four general meanings of bone "remodeling" were identified, namely, internal turnover, functional adaptation, fracture repair, and growth remodeling. Additionally, remodeling is also used to refer to a broad array of pathological skeletal changes.
Although we initially identified four general meanings of bone remodeling, they are not mutually exclusive and often occur in combination. The term "remodeling" has become an extensively used catch-all term to refer to different processes and outcomes of skeletal changes, which inevitably lead to misunderstanding and a loss of information. Such ambiguity and confusion are potentially problematic as the field of biological anthropology becomes increasingly multidisciplinary. Therefore, we advocate for precise, context-specific definitions and explanations of bone remodeling as it continues to be used across disciplines within and beyond biological anthropology.
在现代骨生物学中，“重塑”一词通常指的是产生次生骨单位的内部骨转换。然而，骨骼生物学家，包括生物人类学家也广泛使用这个术语来表示不同的骨骼变化。在这篇综述中，我们研究了“重塑”在生物人类学骨骼生物学的各个主题中是如何使用的，以展示这种通用术语广泛使用所带来的潜在问题。
我们使用 PubMed 和 Google Scholar 选择并回顾了 205 篇使用“重塑”一词来描述具有人类学意义的骨骼过程的文章。还回顾了九本编辑卷，作为不同专家合作的范例，以展示“重塑”一词的广泛而多样的使用。
确定了骨“重塑”的四个一般含义，即内部转换、功能适应、骨折修复和生长重塑。此外，重塑也用于指代广泛的病理性骨骼变化。
虽然我们最初确定了骨重塑的四个一般含义，但它们并不是相互排斥的，而且经常同时发生。“重塑”一词已成为广泛使用的术语，用来表示骨骼变化的不同过程和结果，这不可避免地导致了误解和信息的丢失。这种模糊性和混淆在生物人类学领域变得越来越多学科化时可能会带来问题。因此，我们主张在生物人类学内外的各个学科中继续使用骨重塑时，使用精确的、特定于上下文的定义和解释。
