Subchondral plate thickness reflects tensile stress in the primate acetabulum

To evaluate possible relationships between body size and articular architecture, femoral head radius and subchondral plate thickness were assessed in skeletal hip joints from normal primates. The relative “contact pressure” on bearing surfaces was estimated from the measured radius and the normal body mass in species ranging from Cebuella pygmaea (0.1 kg) to Gorilla gorilla (170 kg). Subchondral plate thickness was evaluated by computed tomography in species ranging from Cercopithecus neglectus (4.0 kg) to Gorilla gorilla. Neither the “contact pressure” nor the thickness of the femoral subchondral plate varied substantially among species. In contrast, the acetabular subchondral plate thickened significantly (p = 0.01) as body size increased. This finding is interpreted as an osseous response to tensile acetabular stress, which can be expected to increase directly with the radius of curvature.