Pathological and Biochemical Observations on Virus-Induced Osteopetrosis Gallinarum

A dinosaur bone lesion resembling avian osteopetrosis and some remarks on the mode of development of the lesions

“…Accounts of avian osteopetrosis have been published by Jungherr and Landauer (1938), Holmes (1958), Bell and Campbell (1961) and Campbell, Young, and Carr (1964). It is proposed to mention only the salient details here.…”

Unusual Endosteally Formed Bone Tissue in a Patagonian Basal Sauropodomorph Dinosaur

“…The only disease that produces a reactive endosteal bone tissue similar to that observed in our sample is avian osteopetrosis. This disease is a retrovirus‐induced bone disorder characterized by diaphyseal enlargement of the long bones, often associated with other gross histopathological alterations (Holmes, ; Bell and Campbell, ; Boyde et al, ; Frank and Franklin, ; Kirev, ). The histopathology and aetiology are different from those of mammalian osteopetrosis, which is genetically determined and is related to a failure of resorption of the bone deposited on the calcified cartilage of growth centers, resulting in the failure to produce a normal marrow cavity in the long bones (Tolar et al, ; Stark and Savarirayan, ).…”

“…Avian osteopetrosis, instead, produces distinctive periosteal reactive bone deposition accompanied by endosteal bone deposits in the medullary cavity (although in some instances only endosteal reactive bone results) (Holmes, ). The microstructure of these reactive bones (periosteal and endosteal) is characterized by the presence of abundant and densely packed osteocyte lacunae, which are embedded in a poorly fibrous matrix (Bell and Campbell, ; Boyde et al, ; Kirev, ). Furthermore, Boyde et al () noted the presence of coatings of lamellar bone around the vascular spaces.…”

Pathogenesis of Osteopetrosis: A Comparison of Human and Animal Spectra

“…Osteopetrotic birds are usually not anemic [8]. Both diffusible and nondiffusible calcium levels in serum may be normal [8] or elevated [33], although alkaline phosphatase levels are elevated and acid phosphatase levels are slightly greater in affected than in control birds [8].…”

“…Histologically, the disease is characterized by thickened periosteum with excessive formation of spongy bone, distortion of developing Haversian canals by a fibrillar matrix material, and by large lacunas containing several osteocytes. The primary change in the avian osteopetrotic lesion is an alteration of the periosteal osteoblasts since the medullary osteoblasts may or may not be affected [64, 671. Osteoclasts are noticeably absent from the lesion although they are found around the trabeculas and endosteal surfaces of all normal bones [8, 641. There are no typical lesions in other tissues of osteopetrotic chickens with the exception of extramedullary hematopoiesis in the liver and kidneys [8]. Parathyroid glands have been described as both enlarged [12, 331 and normal [8].…”