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Updated: Jul 11, 2025
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A Human Bone Marrow 3D Model to Investigate the Dynamics and Interactions Between Resident Cells in Physiological or Tumoral Contexts
Published on: December 16, 2022
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Understanding basic multicellular unit activity in cortical bone through 3D morphological analysis: New methods to
Lindsay L Loundagin1, Kim D Harrison1, Xuan Wei1
1Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Bone
|November 16, 2023
Summary
New 3D imaging techniques quantify bone remodeling by basic multicellular units (BMUs), revealing detailed spatial-temporal coordination and mineral apposition rates without invasive labeling.
Area of Science:
- Bone biology and remodeling
- Skeletal tissue engineering
- Biomaterials science
Background:
- Bone remodeling occurs via basic multicellular units (BMUs) in a sequence of resorption, reversal, and formation.
- Variations in remodeling space morphology suggest complex BMU activity not captured by simplified models.
- Current methods lack the ability to quantify 3D remodeling space morphology alongside cellular activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel techniques for defining BMU activity zones based on 3D remodeling space morphology.
- To integrate morphological data with BMU longitudinal erosion rate (LER) to understand spatial-temporal BMU coordination.
- To estimate mineral apposition rate (MAR) using 3D morphological analysis.
Main Methods:
- In vivo and ex vivo synchrotron radiation and microCT imaging of rabbit tibiae.
- Co-registration of in vivo and ex vivo datasets to identify 27 remodeling spaces at two time points.
- Development of a radial profile method for partitioning remodeling spaces into resorption, reversal, and formation zones.
- Comparison of manual, automated, and semi-automated partitioning approaches.
Main Results:
- A semi-automated method reliably defined remodeling zones in rabbit bone (ICC = 0.85-1.00).
- BMU transit time through a cross-section estimated at approximately 18.8 days (resorption: 4.1, reversal: 2.2, formation: 12.5 days).
- 3D analysis-derived MAR was not significantly different from classic histomorphometry (p=0.48).
Conclusions:
- Developed techniques accurately define 3D bone remodeling zones and dynamic BMU parameters.
- These methods offer a comprehensive perspective on bone remodeling, potentially replacing fluorochrome labeling.
- The study provides a new framework for assessing bone resorption and formation dynamics.
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