ArticleJournal of anatomy2022
Osteoderms as calcium reservoirs: Insights from the lizard Ouroborus cataphractus.
Article in Journal of anatomy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hidden Armour: The Passive Protective Function of Caudal Osteoderms in Snakes.Journal of morphology · 2025Article
- Osteoderms as calcium reservoirs: Insights from the lizard Ouroborus cataphractus.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The functional significance of osteoderms-bony elements embedded in the dermis-remains a topic of much debate. Although many hypotheses have been put forward in the past, the idea that osteoderms can serve as calcium reservoirs has received little experimental attention thus far. In this study, we use micro-computed tomography to investigate inter- and intrasexual variation in osteoderm density in the viviparous lizard Ouroborus cataphractus and conduct histochemical analyses to unravel the potential mechanism involved in mineral resorption from the osteoderms. Our results show that females have denser, more compact osteoderms than males of similar body sizes, regardless of the season during which they were collected and their reproductive state. Furthermore, a histochemical study demonstrates the presence of mononucleated TRAP-positive cells in the vascular canals of the osteoderms. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that the mineral storage hypothesis merits further attention as a candidate explanation for osteoderm evolution.
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Registered trials
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