Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
We are sorry, but NCBI web applications do not support your browser and may not function properly. More information
    PLoS One. 2011;6(7):e21297. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021297. Epub 2011 Jul 7.

    Synchrotron radiation micro-CT at the micrometer scale for the analysis of the three-dimensional morphology of microcracks in human trabecular bone.

    Source

    CREATIS, Inserm U1044, CNRS 5220, INSA Lyon, Université Lyon I, Université de Lyon, Villeurbanne, France.

    Abstract

    Bone quality is an important concept to explain bone fragility in addition to bone mass. Among bone quality factors, microdamage which appears in daily life is thought to have a marked impact on bone strength and plays a major role in the repair process. The starting point for all studies designed to further our understanding of how bone microdamage initiate or dissipate energy, or to investigate the impact of age, gender or disease, remains reliable observation and measurement of microdamage. In this study, 3D Synchrotron Radiation (SR) micro-CT at the micrometric scale was coupled to image analysis for the three-dimensional characterization of bone microdamage in human trabecular bone specimens taken from femoral heads. Specimens were imaged by 3D SR micro-CT with a voxel size of 1.4 µm. A new tailored 3D image analysis technique was developed to segment and quantify microcracks. Microcracks from human trabecular bone were observed in different tomographic sections as well as from 3D renderings. New 3D quantitative measurements on the microcrack density and morphology are reported on five specimens. The 3D microcrack density was found between 3.1 and 9.4/mm3 corresponding to a 2D density between 0.55 and 0.76 /mm2. The microcrack length and width measured in 3D on five selected microcrack ranged respectively from 164 µm to 209 µm and 100 µm to 120 µm. This is the first time that various microcracks in unloaded human trabecular bone--from the simplest linear crack to more complex cross-hatch cracks--have been examined and quantified by 3D imaging at this scale. The suspected complex morphology of microcracks is here considerably more evident than in the 2D observations. In conclusion, this technique opens new perspective for the 3D investigation of microcracks and the impact of age, disease or treatment.

    PMID:
    21750707
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    PMCID:
    PMC3131277
    Free PMC Article

    Images from this publication.See all images (9)Free text

    Figure 1
    Figure 3
    Figure 5
    Figure 7
    Figure 9
    Figure 2
    Figure 4
    Figure 6
    Figure 8

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for Public Library of Science Icon for PubMed Central

      Save items

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk