Bone's structural diversity in adult females is established before puberty

Abstract

Introduction: Bone must be rigid for leverage yet light for mobility. We studied how bone modeling and remodeling fashioned differences in bone size, shape, and mass during growth to achieve these properties in adulthood. Methods: We measured the structural features of a tibial cross-section using quantitative computed tomography and markers of remodeling in 258 10- to 13-yr-old girls during 2 yr and in 108 of their mothers. Results: Tibia total cross-sectional area and mass correlated between daughters and their mothers (r = 0.34 and 0.44, respectively, both P < 0.01). The location of a daughter's tibial total cross-sectional area, medullar area, and bone mass in the lower, middle, or upper..