| Title |
Soft tissue and cellular preservation in vertebrate skeletal elements from the Cretaceous to the present
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, January 2007
|
| DOI | 10.1098/rspb.2006.3705 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Mary Higby Schweitzer, Jennifer L Wittmeyer, John R Horner |
| Abstract |
Soft tissues and cell-like microstructures derived from skeletal elements of a well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex (MOR 1125) were represented by four components in fragments of demineralized cortical and/or medullary bone: flexible and fibrous bone matrix; transparent, hollow and pliable blood vessels; intravascular material, including in some cases, structures morphologically reminiscent of vertebrate red blood cells; and osteocytes with intracellular contents and flexible filipodia. The present study attempts to trace the occurrence of these four components in bone from specimens spanning multiple geological time periods and varied depositional environments. At least three of the four components persist in some skeletal elements of specimens dating to the Campanian. Fibrous bone matrix is more altered over time in morphology and less likely to persist than vessels and/or osteocytes. Vessels vary greatly in preservation, even within the same specimen, with some regions retaining pliability and other regions almost crystalline. Osteocytes also vary, with some retaining long filipodia and transparency, while others present with short and stubby filipodia and deeply pigmented nuclei, or are pigmented throughout with no nucleus visible. Alternative hypotheses are considered to explain the origin/source of observed materials. Finally, a two-part mechanism, involving first cross-linking of molecular components and subsequent mineralization, is proposed to explain the surprising presence of still-soft elements in fossil bone. These results suggest that present models of fossilization processes may be incomplete and that soft tissue elements may be more commonly preserved, even in older specimens, than previously thought. Additionally, in many cases, osteocytes with defined nuclei are preserved, and may represent an important source for informative molecular data. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 37 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 5 | 14% |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 11% |
| Australia | 2 | 5% |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 3% |
| Comoros | 1 | 3% |
| Canada | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 23 | 62% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 32 | 86% |
| Scientists | 5 | 14% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 177 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 8 | 5% |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 2% |
| Chile | 3 | 2% |
| Argentina | 2 | 1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Australia | 1 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| South Africa | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 155 | 88% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 38 | 21% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 37 | 21% |
| Student > Master | 21 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 20 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 12 | 7% |
| Other | 32 | 18% |
| Unknown | 17 | 10% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 63 | 36% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 57 | 32% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 8 | 5% |
| Environmental Science | 6 | 3% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 5 | 3% |
| Other | 20 | 11% |
| Unknown | 18 | 10% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 88. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 22 April 2024.
All research outputs
#490,981
of 25,761,363 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#1,228
of 11,428 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#990
of 173,713 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
#3
of 60 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,761,363 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,428 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
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