title: Distribution of collagen cross-links in normal human trabecular bone.
abstract: Infrared imaging analysis of normal human iliac crest biopsy specimens shows a characteristic spatial variation in the nonreducible:reducible collagen cross-links at trabecular surfaces, depending on the surfaces' metabolic status.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Bone is a composite material consisting of mineral, collagen, non-collagenous proteins, and lipids. Bone collagen, mainly type I, provides the scaffold on which mineral is deposited and imparts specific mechanical properties, determined in part by the amount of collagen present, its orientation and fibril diameter, and the distribution of its cross-links.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, the technique of Fourier transform infrared imaging (FTIRI) was used to determine the ratio of nonreducible:reducible cross-links, in 2- to 4-microm-thick sections from human iliac crest biopsy specimens (N = 14) at trabecular surfaces as a function of surface activity (forming versus resorbing), with an approximately 6.3-mm spatial resolution. The biopsy specimens were obtained from patients devoid of any metabolic bone disease based on histomorphometric and bone densitometric parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Distributions of collagen cross-links within the first 50 mm at forming trabecular surfaces demonstrated a progressive increase in the nonreducible:reducible collagen cross-link ratio, unlike in the case of resorbing surfaces, in which the collagen cross-links ratio (as defined for the purposes of the present report) was relatively constant.
authors: Mineralized Tissues Research Section, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors: E P
authors: EP
authors: Paschalis
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Recker
authors: E
authors: E
authors: DiCarlo
authors: S B
authors: SB
authors: Doty
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Atti
authors: A L
authors: AL
authors: Boskey
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen