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Elastic Modulus of Woven Bone: Correlation with Evolution of Porosity and X-ray Greyscale

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Abstract

The woven bone created during the healing of bone regeneration processes is characterized as being extremely inhomogeneous and having a variable stiffness that increases with time. Therefore, it is important to study how the mechanical properties of woven bone are dependent on its microarchitecture and especially on its porosity and mineral content. The porosity and the x-ray greyscale of specimens taken from bone transport studies in sheep were assessed by means of ex vivo imaging. Our study demonstrates that the porosity of the woven bone in the distraction area diminishes during the healing process from 73.3% 35 days after surgery to 31.9% 525 days after surgery. In addition, the woven bone’s porosity is negatively correlated with its Young’s modulus. The x-ray greyscale, was measured as an indicator of the level of mineralization of the woven bone. Greyscale index has been demonstrated to be inversely proportional to porosity and to increase to up to 60–80% of the level in cortical bone. The results of this study may contribute to the development of micromechanical models of woven bone and improvements in in silico modelling.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad del Gobierno España (Grant Number DPI2017-82501-P) and the Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo de la Junta de Andalucía (Grant Numbers P09-TEP-5195 and US-1261691) for research funding.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining, Mechanical, Energy and Construction Engineering, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain

    J. Mora-Macías

  2. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    P. García-Florencio, J. Domínguez & E. Reina-Romo

  3. Department of Mechanical, Energy and Materials Engineering, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    A. Pajares & P. Miranda

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  1. J. Mora-Macías
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Correspondence to J. Mora-Macías.

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Associate Editor Eiji Tanaka oversaw the review of this article.

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Mora-Macías, J., García-Florencio, P., Pajares, A. et al. Elastic Modulus of Woven Bone: Correlation with Evolution of Porosity and X-ray Greyscale. Ann Biomed Eng 49, 180–190 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02529-6

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