title: [Age-dependency of toluidine-blue dichroism and birefringence of fibers within the costo-chondral junction of human ribs (author's transl)].
abstract: The chondral fibers running parallel to the chondrocyte columns within die costo-chondral junction of human ribs were investigated quantitatively following standardized Toluidine blue staining by using the Leitz-Mikrospektrograph for observing the absorption spectrum, and by employing both a Berek- and a Brace-Köhler compensator for polarization measurements. Autopsy material was obtained from the ribs of 35 children and adults at the age of 0 to 22 years. Refractivity was measured in stained and unstained paraffin sections, whereas dichroism and metachromatic index (MI) of the fibers were determined in stained specimens. All three parameters showed characteristic, quantitative age-dependent variations indicating that the highest degree of molecular and structural adjustment and alignment of the fibers is already being reached at the age of 8 years. The continuously higher refractivity of the fibers with increasing age and bone maturity may be explained by a progressive loss of water by the fibers.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D001718:Birefringence; D002356:Cartilage / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011509:Proteoglycans; D012272:Ribs / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014048:Tolonium Chloride
chemical_list: D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D011509:Proteoglycans; D014048:Tolonium Chloride
vernacular_title: Altersabhängigkeit des Toluidinblau-Dichroismus und der Anisotropie der Fasern in der Wachstumszone menschlicher Rippen.