Abstract
In our work we decided to evaluate the incidence of the costal cartilage ossification in the sample of the Czech population. We decided to verify the existence of the sexual dimorfism of the ossification and document the development of the ossification changes at the microscopic level to contribute to a better understanding of the ossification of human costal cartilage.
We used clinical radiograms and radiograms from dissection material. The microsturucture of cartilage was studied from the autopsy material with the help of the histological, histochemical and imunohistochemical methods.
This work evidences that the ossification of the costal cartilages takes place in two independent ossificating processes (time, locally separate) and is fully physiological process of aging. We comfirmed the existence of two specific ossificating models, which can be used to determinate the sex.
We infirmed the existence of another sexually specific ossificating model that can be used to estimate an individual´s age.