X-ray phase nanotomography resolves the 3D human bone ultrastructure

PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e35691. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035691. Epub 2012 Aug 29.

Abstract

Bone strength and failure are increasingly thought to be due to ultrastructural properties, such as the morphology of the lacuno-canalicular network, the collagen fiber orientation and the mineralization on the nanoscale. However, these properties have not been studied in 3D so far. Here we report the investigation of the human bone ultrastructure with X-ray phase nanotomography, which now provides the required sensitivity, spatial resolution and field of view. The 3D organization of the lacuno-canalicular network is studied in detail over several cells in osteonal and interstitial tissue. Nanoscale density variations are revealed and show that the cement line separating these tissues is hypermineralized. Finally, we show that the collagen fibers are organized as a twisted plywood structure in 3D.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Absorption
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Algorithms
  • Bone and Bones / metabolism
  • Bone and Bones / pathology*
  • Bone and Bones / ultrastructure
  • Collagen / chemistry
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Models, Statistical
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Normal Distribution
  • Osteocytes / cytology
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*
  • X-Rays

Substances

  • Collagen

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the French Medical Research Foundation (FRM – Fondation pour la recherche médicale, www.frm.org). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.