Bone microstructure: quantifying bone vascular orientation

Bone microstructure often preserves a temporal record of the life history of the animal to which it belongs. Previously used bone microstructure metrics to differentiate between primary bone types are reviewed and tested with a broad sample of bone types. Two new metrics, the radial index and the longitudinal index, are developed to quantitatively differentiate bone types based on bone vascular orientation in three dimensions. All previously used metrics described the bone microstructure in a nonlinear pattern and were unable to separate bone types satisfactorily. The radial index and longitudinal index effectively differentiated bone types and described bone microstructure within a linear continuum. The continuous nature of the range of vascular orientation in bone microstructure necessitates a quantitative approach rather than the commonly used qualitative classifications. The radial index and longitudinal index, which objectively detect small differences in vascular orientation in three dimensions, are therefore preferable to other metrics for inter- and intra-specific comparisons of bone microstructure. These metrics offer novel methods to facilitate examinations of the relationship between primary bone type and ontogeny, biomechanics, and phylogeny.