title: Tissue Microarray Analysis Applied to Bone Diagenesis.
abstract: Taphonomic processes affecting bone post mortem are important in forensic, archaeological and palaeontological investigations. In this study, the application of tissue microarray (TMA) analysis to a sample of femoral bone specimens from 20 exhumed individuals of known period of burial and age at death is described. TMA allows multiplexing of subsamples, permitting standardized comparative analysis of adjacent sections in 3-D and of representative cross-sections of a large number of specimens. Standard hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-Schiff and silver methenamine, and picrosirius red staining, and CD31 and CD34 immunohistochemistry were applied to TMA sections. Osteocyte and osteocyte lacuna counts, percent bone matrix loss, and fungal spheroid element counts could be measured and collagen fibre bundles observed in all specimens. Decalcification with 7% nitric acid proceeded more rapidly than with 0.5 M EDTA and may offer better preservation of histological and cellular structure. No endothelial cells could be detected using CD31 and CD34 immunohistochemistry. Correlation between osteocytes per lacuna and age at death may reflect reported age-related responses to microdamage. Methodological limitations and caveats, and results of the TMA analysis of post mortem diagenesis in bone are discussed, and implications for DNA survival and recovery considered.
authors.affiliation: Escola Paulista de Medicina-Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Department of Pathology, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael Barrios
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Mello
authors.affiliation: Escola Paulista de Medicina-Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Department of Pathology, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Regina Regis
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Escola Paulista de Medicina-Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Department of Pathology, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa Seixas
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: Northumbria University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Martin Paul
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Evison
authors.affiliation: University of São Paulo Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Centre for Legal Medicine, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marco Aurelio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.affiliation: University of São Paulo Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Centre for Legal Medicine, Ribeirão Preto 14049-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafaella Arrabaca
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Francisco
authors.affiliation: Escola Paulista de Medicina-Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Department of Pathology, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael Dias
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Astolphi
authors.affiliation: Escola Paulista de Medicina-Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Department of Pathology, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil.|Northumbria University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Edna Sadayo Miazato
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Iwamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001857:Bone Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002113:Calcification, Physiologic; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010011:Osteocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis