Summary
Cortical bone, at the osteonal level, consists of three phases: mineral, organic, and pore or void phases. In osteonal segments excised from mature human cortical bone, organic volume percent is a constant. Determination of the mineral and organic phase densities present in these segments has led to defining a simple relationship between percent mineralization and void volume. Studies of a group of osteonal segments from 5 human tibias suggest that porosity of up to 22.7% may exist. This is much more than is suggested by histological examination, leading to the conclusion that the majority of the void phase is present as a dispersed porosity.
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Black, J., Mattson, R.U. Relationship between porosity and mineralization in the haversian osteon. Calcif Tissue Int 34, 332–336 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02411263
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02411263