Bone cells in birds show exceptional surface area, a characteristic tracing back to saurischian dinosaurs of the late Triassic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dinosaurs are unique among terrestrial tetrapods in their body sizes, which range from less than 3 gm in hummingbirds to 70,000 kg or more in sauropods. Studies of the microstructure of bone tissue have indicated that large dinosaurs, once believed to be slow growing, attained maturity at rates comparable to or greater than those of large mammals. A number of structural criteria in bone tissue have been used to assess differences in rates of osteogenesis in extinct taxa, including counts of lines of arrested growth and the density of vascular canals.

Methodology/principal findings

Here, we examine the density of the cytoplasmic surface of bone-producing cells, a feature which may set an upper limit to the rate of osteogenesis. Osteocyte lacunae and canaliculi, the

SUBMITTER: Rensberger JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4382344 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature