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Science 25 March 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5717, pp. 1952 - 1955
DOI: 10.1126/science.1108397
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Reports

Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex

Mary H. Schweitzer,1,2,3* Jennifer L. Wittmeyer,1 John R. Horner,3 Jan K. Toporski4{dagger}

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.

1 Department of Marine, Earth, Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
2 North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC 27601, USA.
3 Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
4 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, 5251 Broad Branch Road N.W., Washington, DC 20018, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schweitzer{at}ncsu.edu.

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