Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, vol.25, no.2, pp.154-160, 2005 (Scopus)
Objective: Ligamentum capitis femoris which is found between the head of the femur and acetabulum is responsible for feeding head of the femur especially in childhood period. However, the feeding gradually decreases with advancing age. There is a little knowledge about the histological structure of the human ligamentum capitis femoris. In this study, it was aimed to investigate histological properties of ligamentum capitis femoris in childhood and adulthood period with light microscopy and flow cytometry. Material and Methods: Thirteen femoral specimens were obtained from the patients aged between 40 to 80 years and fifteen femoral specimens were obtained from the patients aged between 1 to 2 years. Ligaments for light microscopic and flow-cytometric examinations were fixed in neutralized formalin and embedded into paraffin. Results: When childhood specimens were examined, it was observed that collagen fiber bundles were oriented orderly and fibroblasts were arranged smoothly between these bundles. The elastic fibers were thin and orderly oriented and they often were parallel to the collagen fiber bundles. In the adulthood age group, the collagen fiber bundles oriented in different directions. The collagen fiber bundles were thicker than that of the childhood age group. The fibroblasts were irregularly distributed among the collagen fibers. Elastic fibers were observed in a lesser amount and lost in some areas. In childhood age group, significant increament S phase and G2 phase were found in the comparison of percent ratio of among the adult and childhood age group information about cell cycle as a result of DNA analysis with flow cytometric studies. Conclusion: The histologic structure of the ligamentum capitis femoris in the childhood age group is different from the adults and has a flow cytometric increasing mitosis. All these results were discussed with source of data. Copyright © 2005 by Türkiye Klinikleri.