title: Studying variations in bone composition at nano-scale resolution: a preliminary report.
abstract: Bone has a hierarchical structure extending from the micrometer to the nanometer scale. We report here the first analysis of non-human primate osteonal bone obtained using a spectrometer coupled to an AFM microscope (AFM-IR), with a resolution of 50-100 nm. Average spectra correspond to those observed with conventional FTIR spectroscopy. The following validated FTIR parameters were calculated based on intensities observed in scans covering ~60 µm from the osteon center: mineral content (1030/1660 cm(-1)), crystallinity (1030/1020 cm(-1)), collagen maturity (1660/1690 cm(-1)), and acid phosphate content (1128/1096 cm(-1)). A repeating pattern was found in most of these calculated IR parameters corresponding to the reported inter- and intra-lamellar spacing in human bone, indicating that AFM-IR measurements will be able to provide novel compositional information on the variation in bone at the nanometer level.
authors.affiliation: TRI Princeton, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gourion-Arsiquaud
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marcott
authors.forename: Qichi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Adele L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Boskey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D010215:Papio; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared