Scanning Small Angle X-ray Scattering Analysis of Human Bone Sections

Abstract

Scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (scanning SAXS) was applied for the first time on bone to compare results from SAXS directly with those from other position-sensitive methods, such as light and polarized light microscopy, back-scattered electron imaging, and radiographic imaging. Since scanning SAXS is a nondestructive method of investigation, images from all these techniques could be obtained from the same bone sections. Thus, it could be shown that both the collagen and the mineral crystals were predominantly aligned parallel to the trabeculae and, therefore, to principle stress directions. Moreover, the mean crystal thickness as determined by scanning SAXS was found to be different at various positions inside the trabecular and cortical structure. Finally, it could be shown that scanning SAXS is suitable for detecting local changes in bone material, e.g., due to fluoride treatment.

A three-scale finite element investigation into the effects of tissue mineralisation and lamellar organisation in human cortical and trabecular bone

“…Initially, the diameter of the Haversian system was assumed to be 80µm and to examine the impact of this parameter on the mechanical behaviour of the osteon, two further diameters of 60µm and 100µm are also considered. In this study, the overall diameter of the osteon remains unchanged (200µm) These results (Rinnerthaler et al 1999) would suggest that similar lamellar orientations could exist in trabecular bone as appear in cortical bone (Skedros et al 1996;Bromage et al 2003;Goldman et al 2003) and thus warrant investigation.…”

X-ray diffraction as a promising tool to characterize bone nanocomposites

“…Because of their non-destructive and non-invasive properties, x-rays are widely used to study crystalline materials, but are rarely applied to biological tissue like bone. Despite a long history of attempts on the ultrastructural characterization of bone [14,15,41,43,45,[48][49][50][51][52], there are only few reports on the change in lattice parameters with simultaneous loading of bone specimens, which is discussed in the following section.…”

A materials science vision of extracellular matrix mineralization

“…3 and Table 3). [115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129] The principles governing the mineralization of biological tissues, or those preventing it from mineralizing, have evolved over millions of years into robust mechanisms that function under a variety of environmental challenges. A detailed understanding of such principles is naturally inspiring new approaches in engineering.…”

“…Matrix and mineral characterization [121] Microradiography µ-Computed tomography* Attenuation-based contrast [122] Acoustic microscopy* Material density and stiffness distribution [123] Light microscopy* Confocal, phase-contrast…”