External and internal ontogenetic changes in the first rib.

OBJECTIVES: First ribs bear information about thorax morphology and are usually well preserved, compared to other ribs, in bone/fossil samples. Several studies have addressed ontogeny of the first rib by studying changes in bone microanatomy and rib morphology separately, but no studies have combined both approaches to study how internal and external changes covary during ontogeny. The aim of this project is to fill this gap in our knowledge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied 3D geometric morphometrics of sliding semilandmarks to 14 first ribs of Homo sapiens to quantify rib curvature and mid-shaft cross-section outline. Ontogenetic variation was addressed throughout a principal component analysis (PCA). Additionally, we made histological sections at the mid-shaft of the same ribs and studied tissue matrix composition and compartmentalization. Finally, we performed partial least squares (PLS) and regression analyses to study covariation between rib morphology and compartmentalization variables. RESULTS: PCA shows that first ribs increase their curvature over the course of ontogeny and the rib midshaft becomes less rounded during ontogeny. In addition, the sternal end becomes more medially oriented during ontogeny and the relative head-tubercle distance becomes longer. Compartmentalization shows a decrease in the area occupied by mineralized tissues and an increase in the area occupied by non-mineralized tissues over the course of ontogeny, which covaries with mid-shaft cross-section shape. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show detailed variation in rib morphology along with histological changes in bone tissue compartmentalization and, for the first time, the correlation between the two. This could be related to muscle attachments on the 1st rib and also to changes in breathing mode, from diaphragmatic in perinatals to pulmonary in adults, which could also have implications for understanding thorax evolution.

How accurate are medical CT and micro-CT techniques compared to classical histology when addressing the growth of the internal rib parameters?

Rib internal anatomy and its cross-sectional morphology inform about important biomechanical or even evolutionary aspects. Classic histological studies require destructive techniques that are reprehensible depending on the case (e.g., fossils). In the last years, non-destructive CT-based methods are contributing to complementing previous knowledge without damaging the bone. Even though these methods have been proved to be useful to understand adult variation, we do not know whether these methods are useful to cover ontogenetic variation. This work compares classical histological methods with medical- and micro-CT to quantify the amount of mineral area at the rib midshaft (% Min. Ar.), a proxy for bone density. We compared cross-sections from an ontogenetic sample of 14 human first ribs ranging from perinates to adults using a) classical histology, b) HD (9-17 microns) and SD micro-CT (90 microns), and c) standard medical-CT (0.66 mm). We found that all the CT-based methods provide a larger % Min. Ar. compared to the histological techniques, but the HD micro-CT resolution is the only capable of producing results comparable to classical histology (p > 0.01), with the SD micro-CT and the medical-CT producing statistically larger results compared to classical histology (p < 0.01). In addition, it is important to state that the resolution of a standard medical-CT is not high enough to differentiate between mineral and non-mineral areas of the cross-sections for perinates and infants. These results could have important implications to avoid (when necessary) destructive techniques that are not appropriate in the case of highly valuable specimens such as fossils.