Abstract：
Increased cortical porosity is associated with a heightened risk of skeletal fragility due to bone loss and structural decay in adults. However, few studies have examined the etiology of cortical porosity in infants and children. This study examines whether age-related changes in femoral growth and locomotor development influence femoral midshaft cortical porosity in a sample of 48 individuals (fetal to 3.99 years) from the 10th-13th century cemetery of St. Étienne de Toulouse, France. Histological sections were prepared and imaged using light microscopy. Midshaft geometric variables such as total area, cortical area, and pore area were calculated using BoneJ. Increased porosity and cortical trabecularization were found to be significantly associated with age, being almost exclusively present in individuals aged 0.5-1.99 years. At approximately 6 months of age infants typically begin engaging in regular femoral loading and experience an acceleration in growth. The observed increase in midshaft porosity and trabecularization, therefore, likely results from the reorganization and redistribution of cortical bone, stimulated by increased growth velocity and the onset of weight-bearing activities. The reduction in cortical porosity and trabecularization in individuals aged 2.0-3.99 years indicates that children are approaching some sort of homeostasis as growth velocity slows and their femora adapt to consistent loading. Understanding what expected skeletal development looks like is necessary when conducting bioarcheological studies and this study provides evidence for a pattern of transient midshaft porosity during infancy and early childhood.
摘要：
皮质孔隙度增加与成人骨丢失和结构衰变导致的骨骼脆性风险增加有关。然而,很少有研究检查了婴儿和儿童皮质孔隙的病因。这项研究检查了年龄相关的股骨生长和运动发育的变化是否会影响来自10-13世纪圣埃蒂安德图卢兹公墓的48名个体（胎儿至3.99岁）的股骨中段皮质孔隙度，法国。制备组织学切片并使用光学显微镜成像。中轴几何变量，如总面积，皮质区,使用BoneJ计算孔隙面积。发现孔隙度增加和皮质小梁化与年龄显着相关，几乎只存在于0.5-1.99岁的个体中。在大约6个月大的婴儿通常开始参与规则的股骨负荷并经历生长加速。观察到的中轴孔隙率和小梁化的增加，因此,可能是皮质骨的重组和再分布的结果，受生长速度增加和负重活动开始的刺激。2.0-3.99岁的个体的皮质孔隙度和小梁化的减少表明，随着生长速度的减慢和他们的股骨适应一致的负荷，儿童正在接近某种稳态。进行生物考古学研究时，有必要了解预期的骨骼发育情况，这项研究为婴儿期和幼儿期短暂的中轴孔隙模式提供了证据。
