Fig. 2.

A radiograph of femoral cross section, 11 mm distal from femoral head, to measure bone diameter (B.Dm = ab) and marrow diameter (Ma.Dm = cd). The dorso-ventral line (ab) cuts the horizontal medio-lateral line in the middle of marrow (the histomorphometry software finds this point) and builds a vertical angle (90°). We used the dorso-lateral line for measuring of B.Dm and Ma.Dm because we could observe on this axis the minimal anatomical norm-variations in subtrochanteric region of rat femur. This region is reliable and easy to evaluate