Figure 2.

Analysis of small epiphyseal vessels in femoral heads and tibia plateaus. 3D rendering (a) and 2D slice (b) of contrast-enhanced scans showing contrasted vessels (red arrows) and vessel branching (white arrows). (c) H&E staining showing ink-gelatin filled vessels (arrows) and bone trabeculae (star). Large cutting artefacts are visible (circle). (d) Diameter of the epiphyseal vessels measured by histology and microtomography (^∗∗P < 0.01, ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.00001). (e) Illustrative histogram of vessel diameters (n = 113) of a single femoral head showing a unimodal distribution, which is shifted left for histological data. (f) Closest distance of vessel center and bone trabeculae measured by histology and microtomography.