An image analysis protocol for the quantification of interglobular dentine in anthropological tooth sections

Area of Science:

• Paleopathology
• Bioarchaeology
• Forensic Anthropology

Background:

• Interglobular dentine (IGD) is a histological marker for rickets and vitamin D deficiency in archaeological human remains.
• Current methods for quantifying IGD are subjective, leading to potential observer error and hindering data comparison.
• Paleopathological studies of teeth offer insights into historical disease patterns and seasonality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, objective imaging protocol for quantifying IGD in archaeological human teeth.
• To overcome the limitations of subjective scoring systems in paleopathological analyses.
• To enable more accurate and reproducible comparisons of historical metabolic disease data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized open-access software (FIJI®/ImageJ®) for image analysis.
• Applied grayscale histogram analysis to quantify the percentage of IGD within a defined region of interest.
• Validated the new method against existing subjective estimations.

Main Results:

• The grayscale histogram technique provides less subjective and more quantitative estimates of IGD.
• The developed imaging protocol demonstrates potential for improved accuracy in paleopathological research.
• Objective data acquisition on IGD can enhance the study of past vitamin D deficiency.

Conclusions:

• The new imaging protocol offers a more objective and quantitative approach to assessing IGD in archaeological human remains.
• This method has the potential to improve the reliability and comparability of paleopathological studies on metabolic diseases.
• Further application of this technique can yield significant advancements in understanding historical vitamin D deficiency and its impact.