Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex

2005/03/24 by Mary H. Schweitzer, Jennifer L. Wittmeyer, John R. Horner +1 · 161 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Medicine · #Anatomy #Biology #Bone matrix #Composite material #Elasticity (physics) #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Flexibility (engineering) #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Materials science #Matrix (chemical analysis) #Medicine #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Pathology #Soft tissue

paper · open access · doi:10.1126/science.1108397

published in Science 307(5717), 1952-1955 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)

openalex publication_date 2005/03/24 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Soft tissues are preserved within hindlimb elements of Tyrannosaurus rex (Museum of the Rockies specimen 1125). Removal of the mineral phase reveals transparent, flexible, hollow blood vessels containing small round microstructures that can be expressed from the vessels into solution. Some regions of the demineralized bone matrix are highly fibrous, and the matrix possesses elasticity and resilience. Three populations of microstructures have cell-like morphology. Thus, some dinosaurian soft tissues may retain some of their original flexibility, elasticity, and resilience.

Citations

• Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China
• Blood vessels and red blood cells preserved in dinosaur bones
• Bone diagenesis: an overview of processes
• Fossilized theropod soft tissue
• Exceptional soft-tissue preservation in a theropod dinosaur from Italy
• Heme compounds in dinosaur trabecular bone

Cited by

• Influence of Microbial Biofilms on the Preservation of Primary Soft Tissue in Fossil and Extant Archosaurs
• Melanosomes and ancient coloration re‐examined: A response to Vinther 2015 (DOI 10.1002/bies.201500018)
• A role for iron and oxygen chemistry in preserving soft tissues, cells and molecules from deep time
• Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging for the study of fossils
• Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus Rex Revealed by Mass Spectrometry
• Gender-Specific Reproductive Tissue in Ratites and Tyrannosaurus rex
• Soft tissue and cellular preservation in vertebrate skeletal elements from the Cretaceous to the present
• Evidence of proteins, chromosomes and chemical markers of DNA in exceptionally preserved dinosaur cartilage
• Molecular analyses of dinosaur osteocytes support the presence of endogenous molecules
• Dinosaur [wikipedia]
• Fossil [wikipedia]
• Origin of birds [wikipedia]