title: Elastic properties of woven bone: effect of mineral content and collagen fibrils orientation.
abstract: Woven bone is a type of tissue that forms mainly during fracture healing or fetal bone development. Its microstructure can be modeled as a composite with a matrix of mineral (hydroxyapatite) and inclusions of collagen fibrils with a more or less random orientation. In the present study, its elastic properties were estimated as a function of composition (degree of mineralization) and fibril orientation. A self-consistent homogenization scheme considering randomness of inclusions' orientation was used for this purpose. Lacuno-canalicular porosity in the form of periodically distributed void inclusions was also considered. Assuming collagen fibrils to be uniformly oriented in all directions led to an isotropic tissue with a Young's modulus [Formula: see text] GPa, which is of the same order of magnitude as that of woven bone in fracture calluses. By contrast, assuming fibrils to have a preferential orientation resulted in a Young's modulus in the preferential direction of 9-16 GPa depending on the mineral content of the tissue. These results are consistent with experimental evidence for woven bone in foetuses, where collagen fibrils are aligned to a certain extent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain. jmreina@us.es.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez-Reina
mesh_terms: D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology*; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D017886:Durapatite / Q000378:metabolism; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016062:Porosity
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D017886:Durapatite
keywords: Homogenization; Mineral content; Multiscale micromechanical model; Woven bone