Osteocytes are a type of specialized bone cell that play a crucial role in maintaining bone health and function. They are the most abundant cells found in mature bone tissue. Osteocytes are derived from osteoblasts, which are responsible for the formation of new bone but, instead of depositing new bone matrix, osteocytes become embedded within the bone matrix that has already been laid down. Osteocytes are located within small spaces called lacunae, surrounded by bone matrix known as the osteoid.
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The lifetime of osteocytes post mortem can vary depending on environmental conditions and preservation methods. After an organism dies, cells start to degrade and undergo various changes. However, osteocytes, being encased within the mineralized bone matrix, can persist for some time after death. The mineralized bone matrix provides protection to the osteocytes, slowing down their degradation and decomposition In some cases, osteocytes remain preserved in bone tissue for several years or even decades.
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Under normal conditions however these cells decay and there is no known mechanism to account for their persistence as recognisable bone cells into ‘deep time’ (millions of years). The observation of osteocytes in dinosaur bone samples therefore raises a number of questions, the main one being ‘how is this possible …?’
There are now more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journal articles reporting soft tissues in dinosaur and other deep-time organic remains. These scientific papers describe biological material, including tissue and DNA, remaining inside fossils. A full list, which is being continually updated, is provided here:Â *List of Biomaterial Fossil Papers
Example papers for this topic:
(47) Triceratops blood vessels, osteocytes 2007
(69) Jurassic turtle osteocytes 2012
(73) Dino DNA & proteins actin, tubulin, PHEX, histone 2013
(77) Triceratops osteocytes; soft sheets of fibrillar bone 2013
(114) Hadrosaur eumelanin, blood vessel, osteocytes 2019
(122) Turtle blood vessels and osteocytes 2022
An additional paper not currently in the Biomaterial Fossil List:
https://doi.org/10.1101/400176
Life Inside a Dinosaur Bone: a Thriving Microbiome 2018
*This list of biomaterial papers can provide useful information for research and posting on topics within the Dinosaur Project Community. Thanks to researchgate.net for making this list freely available.