Fig. 1
Architectural changes during physiological cancellous bone formation in the lumbar spine. (a) Representative 3D renderings of lumbar spine segment L3-L5, highlighting the macroscopic growth as well as the exposed cancellous bone network inside the vertebral bodies. The segments increase in size and develop anatomical features, leading to the emergence of the mature geometry within 2 weeks. (b) 3D views of samples of identical volume (410 × 310 × 320 µm3) within the vertebral body at 1-, 3-, and 7 days. These reveal three distinct phases of mineralized architecture formation: templating, consolidation, and expansion1.
