Mapping the 3D orientation of nanocrystals and nanostructures in human bone: Indications of novel structural features
Journal article, 2020

Bone is built from collagen fibrils and biomineral nanoparticles. In humans, they are organized in lamellar twisting patterns on the microscale. It has been a central tenet that the biomineral nanoparticles are co-aligned with the bone nanostructure. Here, we reconstruct the three-dimensional orientation in human lamellar bone of both the nanoscale features and the biomineral crystal lattice from small-angle x-ray scattering and wide-angle x-ray scattering, respectively. While most of the investigated regions show well-aligned nanostructure and crystal structure, consistent with current bone models, we report a localized difference in orientation distribution between the nanostructure and the biomineral crystals in specific bands. Our results show a robust and systematic, but localized, variation in the alignment of the two signals, which can be interpreted as either an additional mineral fraction in bone, a preferentially aligned extrafibrillar fraction, or the result of transverse stacking of mineral particles over several fibrils.

Author

Tilman A. Grünewald

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

Marianne Liebi

Chalmers, Physics, Materials Physics

Nina K. Wittig

Aarhus University

Andreas Johannes

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

Tanja Sikjaer

Arhus Universitetshospital

Lars Rejnmark

Arhus Universitetshospital

Zirui Gao

Paul Scherrer Institut

Martin Rosenthal

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

Manuel Guizar-Sicairos

Paul Scherrer Institut

Henrik Birkedal

Aarhus University

Manfred Burghammer

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

Science advances

2375-2548 (eISSN)

Vol. 6 24 EABA4171

Subject Categories

Bio Materials

Geochemistry

Medical Image Processing

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.aba4171

More information

Latest update

8/28/2020