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Investigation of microstructural features in regenerating bone using micro computed tomography

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Abstract

We illustrate some of the uses of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to study tissue-engineered bone using a micro-CT facility for imaging and visualizing biomaterials in three dimensions (3-D). The micro-CT is capable of acquiring 3D X-ray CT images made up of 20003 voxels on specimens up to 5 cm in extent with resolutions down to 2 μm. This allows the 3-D structure of tissue-engineered materials to be imaged across orders of magnitude in resolution. This capability is used to examine an explanted, tissue-engineered bone material based on a polycaprolactone scaffold and autologous bone marrow cells. Imaging of the tissue-engineered bone at a scale of 1 cm and resolutions of 10 μm allows one to visualize the complex ingrowth of bone into the polymer scaffold. From a theoretical viewpoint the voxel data may also be used to calculate expected mechanical properties of the tissue-engineered implant. These observations illustrate the benefits of tomography over traditional techniques for the characterization of bone morphology and interconnectivity. As the method is nondestructive it can perform a complimentary role to current histomorphometric techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, ACT, 0200, Australia

    A. C. Jones, A. Sakellariou, A. Limaye, C. H. Arns, T. J. Senden, T. Sawkins & M. A. Knackstedt

  2. Cranio-Facial-Center (cfc) Hirslanden, CH-5000, Aarau, Switzerland

    D. Rohner

  3. Division of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119260

    D. W. Hutmacher

  4. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    A. Brandwood & B. K. Milthorpe

Authors
  1. A. C. Jones
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  2. A. Sakellariou
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  3. A. Limaye
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  4. C. H. Arns
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  5. T. J. Senden
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  6. T. Sawkins
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  7. M. A. Knackstedt
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  8. D. Rohner
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  9. D. W. Hutmacher
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  10. A. Brandwood
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  11. B. K. Milthorpe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. K. Milthorpe.

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Jones, A.C., Sakellariou, A., Limaye, A. et al. Investigation of microstructural features in regenerating bone using micro computed tomography. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 15, 529–532 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JMSM.0000021133.48661.62

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JMSM.0000021133.48661.62

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