Fine structure of bone in dinosaurs, birds and mammals

After observation of detailed structural evidence for the origin of birds from dinosaurs1, and in light of evidence that dinosaur bone tissue resembles the histology in mammals2, the histology of bone has become one of the focal points in discussions of the physiology of dinosaurs and Mesozoic birds3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Most of this microstructural information has focused on features related to the vascular organization and the amount of remodelled bone around vascular canals. However, the finer structures have received less attention, although differences in such structures have been observed among modern vertebrates10,11. Here we present evidence that canaliculi—the submicrometre-sized channels that interconnect bone cells and vascular canals—and the collagen fibre bundles in bone are differently organized among certain dinosaur lineages. Ornithomimid dinosaurs12 are more like birds than mammals in these features. In canalicular structure, and to some extent in fibre bundle arrangement, ornithischian dinosaurs are more like mammals. These differences in both canalicular and lamellar structure are probably linked to differences in the process and rate13 of bone formation.