Age changes in bone

Abstract

Changes in bone structure as a function of age have been studied by simple inspection, x-ray imaging, stereo-photography, deep field optical microscopy, circularly polarised light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), including both topographic and compositional backscattered electron (BSE) imaging modes. The study of bone as a three-dimensional object, rather than in thin sections, enables us to envisage modelling and remodelling processes in context. The study of ultra-flat block surfaces permits the acquisition of data from an effectively very thin layer in the block face, and to examine bone as a spectrum of tissue types varying in the degree of mineralisation. Particular attention has been paid in our earlier studies to the iliac crest, lumbar vertebral bodies, femoral mid-shaft, neck and head and parietal and frontal skull bones. Recently, we have compared findings from these sites with observations on the mandible. We conclude, from our new imaging data, that common generalisations about the changes in bone in ageing and osteoporosis are too simplified, and that the mandible differs sufficiently from post-cranial skeletal sites that it would be unwise to extrapolate from findings in the jaw to the circumstances elsewhere.