The ‘Law of Bone Transformation’: A Case of Crying Wolff?

Bertram, John E. A.; Swartz, Sharon M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1991.tb01142.x

Cited by 196 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Menegaz et al, 2009;Holmes and Ruff, 2011;Scott et al, 2014;Standen et al, 2014). The way in which bone responds to loading over the course of an organism's lifetime is complex and multileveled (Bertram and Swartz, 1991;Hsieh et al, 2001;Pearson and Lieberman, 2004;Hamrick et al, 2006;Ruff et al, 2006;Ravosa et al, 2008;Ravosa et al, 2010b). Several studies have observed an age-related decrease in the ability of an organism to modify a bone's cross-sectional geometry adaptively (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teaching an old jaw new tricks: Diet-induced plasticity in a model organism, from weaning to adulthood

Scott

McAbee

Eastman

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Many organisms exhibit a decrease in the ability to modify their phenotypes in response to shifts in environmental conditions as they mature. Such age-dependent plasticity has important implications in a variety of evolutionary and ecological contexts, particularly with respect to understanding adaptive responses to heterogeneous environments. In this study we used experimental diet manipulation to examine the life-history trajectory of plasticity in the feeding complex of a model organism, the white rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). We demonstrate that, contrary to expectations derived from previous cross-sectional studies of skeletal plasticity, the jaws of weanlings and young adults exhibit similar increases in relative bone cross-sectional areas in response to the introduction of mechanically challenging foods into their diets. Furthermore, we present evidence that sensitivity to loading patterns persists well into adulthood in some regions of the masticatory apparatus in rabbits, indicating that there is an extended window of opportunity to respond to changes in dietary properties during an animal's life span. We conclude that certain aspects of the facial skeleton of rabbits, and perhaps mammals in general, are sensitive to environmental stimuli long after skeletal maturity is achieved, highlighting the importance of plasticity as a source of adaptive variation at later life-history stages.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…bone functional adaptation). The literature devoted to this subject is vast (for reviews, see Lanyon and Rubin, 1985;Bertram and Swartz, 1991;Biewener, 1993;Pearson and Lieberman, 2004;Ruff et al, 2006;Ravosa et al, 2010b). This intensive focus is related to skeletal plasticity's relevance to biomedical applications (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching an old jaw new tricks: Diet-induced plasticity in a model organism, from weaning to adulthood

Scott

McAbee

Eastman

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…The cohesion within the patterns of remodeling in the three species examined suggests an underlying genetic basis to their similarity. Numerous workers, notably initiated by Bertram and Swartz [13], have questioned the real explanatory power of the so called "Wolff's law" in the remodeling of bone. Results of this study accord with the notion that factors other than simple mechanical loading may be the primary determinants of skeletal remodeling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The standard paradigm of skeletal remodeling, often based around assumptions of the so-called "Wolff's Law," [12] portrays remodeling of skeletal elements as an adaptive response of bone tissue to the mechanical loads imposed upon it. In recent years, the validity of this assumption as the sole basis of skeletal remodeling has come into question [5,13,14]. To test some of these assumptions, we here examine variation within and among skeletal elements and across species, both at the tissue level and the whole bone level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Histomorphological Variation in the Appendicular Skeleton

Walker¹,

Lovejoy²,

Cordes³

2009

TOANTHJ

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Densities of osteons and osteon fragments at the midshafts of the femur, tibia, fibula, humerus, radius, ulna and clavicle are examined in a sample of contemporary human males and females (n = 39; 23 female, 16 male), with comparative data derived from one specimen each of Gallus gallus and Felis silvestris catus. Results demonstrate that there are significant differences in mean complete and fragmentary osteon densities among bones and between the sexes. We suggest that these patterns are less a simple reflection of the so-called "Wolff's law," but instead represent not only remodeling in response to loading, but also underlying intrinsic developmental parameters specific to each bone. Given the diversity of locomotor patterns of the three species, and the resulting differences in loading environments of their limbs, this histomorphological pattern suggests that remodeling is an inherently complex phenomenon, subject to local intrinsic developmental factors in addition to mechanical loading.

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“…This connection was originally described in the work of Julius Wolff, who suggested that individual trabeculae of the proximal human femur are aligned along the principal stress directions (Wolff, 1892). Many studies examined this premise (Enlow, 1968;Bertram and Swartz, 1991;Currey, 2012), including several experimental studies that directly demonstrate this connection. Studies of trabecular bone in the knee joint of guinea fowl showed that the fine trabecular bone in the distal femur has a high degree of correspondence between the changes in joint angle and trabecular orientation (Pontzer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Ita and Functional Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

3D Architecture of Trabecular Bone in the Pig Mandible and Femur: Inter-Trabecular Angle Distributions

et al. 2017

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Cancellous bone is an intricate network of interconnected trabeculae, to which analysis of network topology can be applied. The inter-trabecular angle (ITA) analysis-an analysis of network topological parameters and regularity of network-forming nodes-was previously carried out on human proximal femora and showed that trabecular bone follows two main principles: sparsity of the network connectedness (prevalence of nodes with low connectivity in the network) and maximal space spanning (angular offset of connected elements is maximal for their number and approximates the values of geometrically symmetric shapes). These observations suggest that 3D organization of trabecular bone, irrespective of size and shape of individual elements, reflects a tradeoff between minimal metabolic cost of maintenance and maximal network stability under conditions of multidirectional loading. In this study, we validate the ITA application using additional 3D structures (cork and 3D-printed metal lattices), analyze the ITA parameters in porcine proximal femora and mandibles, and carry out a spatial analysis of the most common node type in the porcine mandibular condyle. The validation shows that the ITA application reliably detects designed or evolved topological parameters. The ITA parameters of porcine trabecular bones are similar to those of human bones. We demonstrate functional adaptation in the pig mandibular condyle by showing that the planar nodes with three edges are preferentially aligned in relation to the muscle forces that are applied to the condyle. We conclude that the ITA topological parameters are remarkably conserved, but locally do adapt to applied stresses.

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The ‘Law of Bone Transformation’: A Case of Crying Wolff?

Cited by 196 publications

References 80 publications

Teaching an old jaw new tricks: Diet-induced plasticity in a model organism, from weaning to adulthood

Teaching an old jaw new tricks: Diet-induced plasticity in a model organism, from weaning to adulthood

Histomorphological Variation in the Appendicular Skeleton

3D Architecture of Trabecular Bone in the Pig Mandible and Femur: Inter-Trabecular Angle Distributions

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