title: [Three-dimensional architecture of the acetabular labrum--a scanning electron microscopic study].
abstract: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the structural and steric microstructural characteristics of the labrum acetabula and physiologic significance on hip-joint function by electron microscope. Acetabular specimens were taken from 18 monkeys and 26 humans and divided into three layers under a microscope. We found the most superficial layer was a thin membrane of fibernet made of collagen fibrils. The second, or superficial layer, had a stratiform structure 20 micron to 100 micron in thickness. The third, or the inner layer, covered the great majority of the labrum acetabula and was made of fiber bundles running parallel to the acetabular margin. There were also fiber bundles scattered in this layer which appeared to separate the labrum acetabula. Based on the structural and steric microstructural characteristics of the labrum acetabula it is thought that the physiological functions are carried out mainly by the inner layer and that dynamically the labrum acetabula was resistant to stretching and compression in a fixed direction along the acetabular margin, but vulnerable to shearing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Saitama Medical School.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shibutani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005270:Femur Head / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008875:Middle Aged