Microdamage accumulation changes according to animal mass: an intraspecies investigation

The fatigue life of a structure is also influenced by its size. Statistically, a bone from a large animal is expected to bear a higher risk of stress fracture if compared to the same bone from a small animal of the same species. This is not documented in the dog, where individuals can have a 40 times difference in body mass. We investigated the effect of body size on cortical bone microdamage accumulation, cortical microstructural organization (porosity, osteon area, and osteocyte lacunar density), and turnover in dogs with a wide body mass range. The aim was to understand and mathematically model how the bone tissue copes with the microdamage accumulation linked to body mass increase. Calcified transverse cortical sections of 18 canine radii of remarkably different size were examined by means of a standard bulk-staining technique and histomorphometric standard algorithms. Relationships between the investigated histomorphometric variables age, sex and mass were analyzed by general linear multivariate models and exponential equations. Type and location of microdamage and bone turnover were not influenced by body mass. Gender did not influence any parameter. Age influenced bone turnover and activation frequency. Microcrack density was influenced by bone mass. Bones had a similar microstructural organization within the same species regardless of the subject's dimension. Microdamage accumulation is inversely related to bone mass, whereas bone turnover is mass-invariant. We theorize a mass-related change in the bone fracture toughness targeted to reach an optimal unique dimensionless curve for fatigue life.