title: The different growth zones of the fetal foot.
abstract: Previous publications revealed no reliable data or models concerning the three-dimensional ontogenesis of the lower extremity. Using the method of plastination-histology in combination with 3D-computer-reconstructions we were able to produce exact, virtual 3D-specimens of 19 healthy fetal feet. The fetuses were aged between 9 to 38 weeks of gestation and age-dependently related to four defined age-groups. We compared these feet with the help of a new geometrical method. Thus, we obtained a kind of "slow-motion-picture" of the undisturbed three-dimensional development of the fetal foot. Our results show that the human fetal foot has a desultory mode of growth and that growth priorities within the foot-skeleton change dependent upon age and region. Though the growth of the fetal foot-skeleton is desultory, it is not disconnected. The result of this peculiar mode of growth is to create the foot arches and thus seems to be functionally-oriented toward the human foot's specific purposes.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Anatomie und Histologie, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fritsch
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced; D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D005528:Foot / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology*; D005529:Foot Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D011247:Pregnancy