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Title: Intrinsic mechanical behavior of femoral cortical bone in young, osteoporotic and bisphosphonate-treated individuals in low- and high energy fracture conditions

Abstract

Bisphosphonates are a common treatment to reduce osteoporotic fractures. This treatment induces osseous structural and compositional changes accompanied by positive effects on osteoblasts and osteocytes. Here, we test the hypothesis that restored osseous cell behavior, which resembles characteristics of younger, healthy cortical bone, leads to improved bone quality. Microarchitecture and mechanical properties of young, treatment-naive osteoporosis, and bisphosphonate-treated cases were investigated in femoral cortices. Tissue strength was measured using three-point bending. Collagen fibril-level deformation was assessed in non-traumatic and traumatic fracture states using synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) at low and high strain rates. The lower modulus, strength and fibril deformation measured at low strain rates reflects susceptibility for osteoporotic low-energy fragility fractures. Independent of age, disease and treatment status, SAXS revealed reduced fibril plasticity at high strain rates, characteristic of traumatic fracture. The significantly reduced mechanical integrity in osteoporosis may originate from porosity and alterations to the intra/extrafibrillar structure, while the fibril deformation under treatment indicates improved nano-scale characteristics. In conclusion, losses in strength and fibril deformation at low strain rates correlate with the occurrence of fragility fractures in osteoporosis, while improvements in structural and mechanical properties following bisphosphonate treatment may foster resistance to fracture during physiological strain rates.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [8];  [9]
  1. University Medical Center Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  4. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg (Germany)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
  6. University Medical Center Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany). Dept of Forensic Medicine
  7. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). School of Medicine
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. University Medical Center Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1256067
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1379096
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Zimmermann, Elizabeth A., Schaible, Eric, Gludovatz, Bernd, Schmidt, Felix N., Riedel, Christoph, Krause, Matthias, Vettorazzi, Eik, Acevedo, Claire, Hahn, Michael, Püschel, Klaus, Tang, Simon, Amling, Michael, Ritchie, Robert O., and Busse, Björn. Intrinsic mechanical behavior of femoral cortical bone in young, osteoporotic and bisphosphonate-treated individuals in low- and high energy fracture conditions. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1038/srep21072.
Zimmermann, Elizabeth A., Schaible, Eric, Gludovatz, Bernd, Schmidt, Felix N., Riedel, Christoph, Krause, Matthias, Vettorazzi, Eik, Acevedo, Claire, Hahn, Michael, Püschel, Klaus, Tang, Simon, Amling, Michael, Ritchie, Robert O., & Busse, Björn. Intrinsic mechanical behavior of femoral cortical bone in young, osteoporotic and bisphosphonate-treated individuals in low- and high energy fracture conditions. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21072
Zimmermann, Elizabeth A., Schaible, Eric, Gludovatz, Bernd, Schmidt, Felix N., Riedel, Christoph, Krause, Matthias, Vettorazzi, Eik, Acevedo, Claire, Hahn, Michael, Püschel, Klaus, Tang, Simon, Amling, Michael, Ritchie, Robert O., and Busse, Björn. Tue . "Intrinsic mechanical behavior of femoral cortical bone in young, osteoporotic and bisphosphonate-treated individuals in low- and high energy fracture conditions". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21072. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1256067.
@article{osti_1256067,
title = {Intrinsic mechanical behavior of femoral cortical bone in young, osteoporotic and bisphosphonate-treated individuals in low- and high energy fracture conditions},
author = {Zimmermann, Elizabeth A. and Schaible, Eric and Gludovatz, Bernd and Schmidt, Felix N. and Riedel, Christoph and Krause, Matthias and Vettorazzi, Eik and Acevedo, Claire and Hahn, Michael and Püschel, Klaus and Tang, Simon and Amling, Michael and Ritchie, Robert O. and Busse, Björn},
abstractNote = {Bisphosphonates are a common treatment to reduce osteoporotic fractures. This treatment induces osseous structural and compositional changes accompanied by positive effects on osteoblasts and osteocytes. Here, we test the hypothesis that restored osseous cell behavior, which resembles characteristics of younger, healthy cortical bone, leads to improved bone quality. Microarchitecture and mechanical properties of young, treatment-naive osteoporosis, and bisphosphonate-treated cases were investigated in femoral cortices. Tissue strength was measured using three-point bending. Collagen fibril-level deformation was assessed in non-traumatic and traumatic fracture states using synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) at low and high strain rates. The lower modulus, strength and fibril deformation measured at low strain rates reflects susceptibility for osteoporotic low-energy fragility fractures. Independent of age, disease and treatment status, SAXS revealed reduced fibril plasticity at high strain rates, characteristic of traumatic fracture. The significantly reduced mechanical integrity in osteoporosis may originate from porosity and alterations to the intra/extrafibrillar structure, while the fibril deformation under treatment indicates improved nano-scale characteristics. In conclusion, losses in strength and fibril deformation at low strain rates correlate with the occurrence of fragility fractures in osteoporosis, while improvements in structural and mechanical properties following bisphosphonate treatment may foster resistance to fracture during physiological strain rates.},
doi = {10.1038/srep21072},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Tue Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

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