Missing bones

Dr Jonathan Reeve, who is studying fractures and the ageing process at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility in Cambridge, has found a novel way of ensuring he keeps an adequate supply of bone samples for his studies.

Once or twice a year a member of Dr Reeve's team boards a plane for Australia collects a batch of 25 or so femurs from the University of Melbourne and returns a few days later with them packed in a suitcase (all done with the full knowledge of the airline).

Until a couple of years ago Dr Reeve had been receiving a couple of samples a month from Addenbrooke's Hospital, where the Clinical Research Facility is based. But as the full ramifications of Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital scandal unravelled, supplies dried up.

This, combined with the fact that fewer routine post-mortems are being carried out, leads to difficulties for researchers trying to obtain human samples.

"Fortunately we already had a collaboration with Professor John Clement in Melbourne," explained Dr Reeve. "He has authorization from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine ethics committee and so has access to femurs from people, aged 20 upwards, who have died suddenly in a variety of circumstances.

"If we had to look around in this country for a similar supply I'm certain it would be extremely difficult to find one because of the sensitivities now following Alder Hey."

Dr Reeve and his team are investigating bone density, looking for clues that will explain why bones become more fragile with age. As he explains, some of the femurs take on the appearance of Swiss cheese following a fracture as the cortex becomes 'moth-eaten'. In these cases they become perforated as capillaries deliver osteoclast cells which burrow into the bone.

The Australian samples are needed so they can be compared to bone from femurs that have suffered fractures and old age. Hip fracture is a very common problem in old age, costing the NHS and other services more than £1 billion annually in the UK.