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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 204, Issue 10 1775-1781, Copyright © 2001 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

The anisotropic Young's modulus of equine secondary osteones and interstitial bone determined by nanoindentation

JY Rho, JD Currey, P Zioupos and GM Pharr
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA, Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box 373, York YO10 5YW, UK, Department of Materials and Medical Sciences, Cranfield University, Shrivenham SN6 8LA, UK and Department of Material Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA and Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. jdc1@york.ac.uk

The equine radius is a useful subject for examining the adaptation of bone histology to loading because in life the anterior cortex is loaded almost entirely in tension, the posterior cortex in compression. The histology of the two cortices is correspondingly different, the osteones and the interstitial lamellae in the posterior cortex having a more transversely oriented fibre arrangement than those in the anterior cortex. Presumably as a result of this histological difference, the posterior cortex is stronger in compression than the anterior cortex; the anterior cortex is stronger in tension than the posterior cortex. We here use nanoindentation to examine how the Young's modulus of elasticity of secondary osteones and interstitial lamellae in the anterior and posterior cortices varied as a function of angle. The anterior osteones were stiffer than the posterior osteones when tested in the direction parallel to the bone's long axis, but became progressively relatively less stiff as the angle increased; at 90 degrees, they were less stiff than the posterior osteones. Although the interstitial lamellae were stiffer than their neighbouring osteones, the same relationship between anterior and posterior interstitial lamellae as a function of angle was found as for the osteones. The anisotropy of these Young's moduli determined by nanoindentation shows a close relationship with what was to be expected from the histological findings.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2001