Output details
15 - General Engineering
University of Southampton
A quantitative framework for the 3D characterization of the osteocyte lacunar system
Significance of output:
Osteocytes, the most abundant bone cells, are fundamental for bone health. They form a 3D network of 104–105 cells/mm3, which has never been quantified systematically. Therefore, we defined, verified, and validated 3D shape, orientation, and distribution measures for the osteocyte lacunar system. Moreover, we provided fully automated image processing tools to apply these novel morphometric measures to computed tomographic data sets and a database-driven tool for managing the results in a first biological study within this paper, which is the base of an ongoing genomic study with more than 1000 bone samples with up to 108 individual osteocyte lacunae.