Microcomputed tomography

Trabecular and cortical bone architectures were analyzed, as we have previously described in detail (18, 21). Briefly, after tissue preparation, the distal femur metaphysis and the L5 vertebral body were scanned using a Skyscan 1172. All scans were conducted at a 6-µm scan resolution. Three-dimensional reconstructions using Skyscan software provided the following parameters: trabecular bone volume per total volume (BV/TV; %), trabecular number (Tb.N; mm⁻¹), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th; mm), and trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp; mm). Additionally, the Skyscan software provided the following data for femoral diaphysis cortical bone: periosteal perimeter (mm), endocortical perimeter (mm), total area (mm²), bone area (mm²), marrow area (mm²), cortical porosity (%), cortical thickness (mm), minimum moment of inertia (mm⁴), maximum moment of inertia (mm⁴), and polar moment of inertia (mm⁴).