Effects of temperature on bone tissue. Histological study of the changes in the bone matrix

Abstract

The analysis of burned human remains has given rise to many publications in the literature and has caused great interest among forensic specialists and physical anthropologists due to the difficulty in its analysis and interpretation. The main goal of this study has been to measure the changes that occur in bone matrix as a consequence of the increased temperature and establishing categories of histological morphology in relation to fire temperature. To this end, a total of 150 bone cylinders from the ilium obtained by bone biopsy. These samples have been obtained from forensic cadavers and burned at controlled temperatures between 100 and 1100 8C in an oven. The samples were fixed in methyl methacrylate and stained with hematoxylin–eosin, Goldner’s trichrome and toluidine blue stains. The samples were studied using an optical microscope at 100!. Our study classifies the morphological changes that occur in bone matrix in four stages as a result of the temperature.