Aging and the Kinetics of Human Osteon Formation

Abstract

The circumferences were measured of the inner walls of osteoid seams involved in osteon formation in mineralizes sections from the ribs of 139 metabolically normal subjects. A size frequency distribution was made with the data and a transformation to the time domain then performed. This transformation yields a curve of the decimal part of an osteommade plotted against the decimal part of the time required to make it. There is no significant difference in the shape of this kinetic curve at any age decade between birth and age 80. It is suggested that any age related interference with the efficiency of synthesis of new bone matrix by osteoblasts is minor, when compared to the magnitude (100: 1) of the previously reported age related decline in the rate at which progenitor cells make new osteoblasts.