[Histomorphometry and photodensitometry of osteons with hypercalcified ring of human compact bone]

Osteons with hypercalcified ring were measured by photodensitometry and histomorphometry in the tibial diaphysis of 20 male and female subjects died from 23 to 93 years, the age-related decrease of cortical bone volume corresponded to wide Haversian canals. However, the osteons with a hypercalcified ring had a narrow canal. Moreover, the radio pacity of the hypermineralized ring was 20 to 30% higher than the adjacent parts of the osteon and the central part was nearly never less mineralized than the peripheric one. So the hypercalcified ring did not appear to be an arrest line. It may be suggested that it constitutes a sign of cortical bone senescence.