Morphometric and density comparisons of Bos taurus scapulae as a proxy to human frontal crania

Background: In the absence of cadaveric tissues, forensic simulation, trauma modelling, and cranial surgical training necessitates a surrogate for the human calvaria. This study investigates the validity of Bos taurus scapulae as a proxy for human frontal bones by comparing the laminar and cancellous bone thickness, as well as the bone mineral density (BMD) of cadaveric frontal bones and adult Bos taurus scapulae. Results: This study aimed to validate the bovine scapulae as a valid proxy for forensic experiments, which benefit researchers and investigators who need to recreate forensic scenarios where synthetic proxies are found unsuitable due to their non-viscoelastic nature and cadaveric human models are unavailable due to ethical restrictions. Our results identified different total thicknesses of the relative bones, but non-different cortical measurements between human frontal bone and bovine scapulae. The bone mineral density is similar between both groups. Conclusion: This study has found Bos taurus scapulae to be a suitable proxy for human frontal bones as it has a similar morphology with regard to thickness and structure as well as a comparable density. However, there is a significant difference between the cancellous bone, and therefore, the overall thickness.