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Porotic paradox: distribution of cortical bone pore sizes at nano- and micro-levels in healthy vs. fragile human bone

  • Clinical Applications of Biomaterials
  • Original Research
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Abstract

Bone is a remarkable biological nanocomposite material showing peculiar hierarchical organization from smaller (nano, micro) to larger (macro) length scales. Increased material porosity is considered as the main feature of fragile bone at larger length-scales. However, there is a shortage of quantitative information on bone porosity at smaller length-scales, as well as on the distribution of pore sizes in healthy vs. fragile bone. Therefore, here we investigated how healthy and fragile bones differ in pore volume and pore size distribution patterns, considering a wide range of mostly neglected pore sizes from nano to micron-length scales (7.5 to 15000 nm). Cortical bone specimens from four young healthy women (age: 35 ± 6 years) and five women with bone fracture (age: 82 ± 5 years) were analyzed by mercury porosimetry. Our findings showed that, surprisingly, fragile bone demonstrated lower pore volume at the measured scales. Furtnermore, pore size distribution showed differential patterns between healthy and fragile bones, where healthy bone showed especially high proportion of pores between 200 and 15000 nm. Therefore, although fragile bones are known for increased porosity at macroscopic level and level of tens or hundreds of microns as firmly established in the literature, our study with a unique assessment range of nano—to micron-sized pores reveal that osteoporosis does not imply increased porosity at all length scales. Our thorough assessment of bone porosity reveals a specific distribution of porosities at smaller length-scales and contributes to proper understanding of bone structure which is important for designing new biomimetic bone substitute materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (grant numbers III 45005 and III 45001) for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Anthropology, Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 4/2 Dr Subotica, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Petar Milovanovic, Djordje Antonijevic, Danijela Djonic & Marija Djuric

  2. Department of Catalysis and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, 12 Njegoseva, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Zorica Vukovic

  3. Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 31a Deligradska, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Vladimir Zivkovic & Slobodan Nikolic

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  1. Petar Milovanovic
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Milovanovic, P., Vukovic, Z., Antonijevic, D. et al. Porotic paradox: distribution of cortical bone pore sizes at nano- and micro-levels in healthy vs. fragile human bone. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 28, 71 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-017-5878-7

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