title: Effect of formaldehyde fixation on some mechanical properties of bovine bone.
abstract: The risk of infection of investigators working on the biomechanics of human bone from a variety of modern pathogens including the human immunodeficiency virus or the hepatitis B virus has increased recently. New safety procedures are needed to reduce that risk. The procedure we follow in our laboratory employs brief (< 3 h) fixation in formaldehyde, and we report here the effects it has on some mechanical properties of bovine bone. Results in quasistatic loading tests were almost unaffected by our fixation protocol, but a significant decrease in impact strength was found. These results indicate that there may be some interaction between fixation and strain rate dependent effects and, therefore, some caution is needed when using common biomechanical measurement methods on fixed bone material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, UK.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Currey
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brear
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zioupos
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Reilly
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology; D002417:Cattle; D005404:Fixatives / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008422:Materials Testing; D012449:Safety; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D005404:Fixatives; D005557:Formaldehyde