Double lamellae in trabecular osteons: Towards a new method for age estimation by bone microscopy

The study of anatomical ageing has a dual purpose in biological anthropology. On the one hand, it can provide insights into age associated changes in the body and thus widen the understanding of human senescence; and on the other hand it can provide means of estimation of age at death. This paper explores normal ageing in the pattern of remodelling of trabecular bone in humans.

The material consists of necropsies of bone from the ilium of 25 males. A 1 cm² prism extending from the outer to the inner surface of the iliac bone was removed from men who had died with no clinical signs of diseases, which would usually affect bone structure and metabolism. The samples were cut, and studied by light microscopy at a magnification of 100×.

New trabecular bone is formed in disk-shaped osteons with a clear double lamellar structure. In each sample, the number of double lamellae in a mean of 21 complete osteons was counted. The mean number of lamellae was taken as the measurement of interest. The log of the mean counts was found to regress linearly and with no evidence for heteroscedacity on age. The correlation between the two was high and negative (r=−0.83, p<0.001). The material is too limited to provide a useful basis for age estimation as such, but the study demonstrates the potential for palaeodemographic application of the method.