Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences on calcified tissues
Bone Abstracts (2013) 1 PP50 | DOI: 10.1530/boneabs.1.PP50

ECTS2013 Poster Presentations Bone biomechanics and quality (28 abstracts)

Micro-morphological properties of osteons reveal changes in cortical bone stability during aging, osteoporosis and bisphosphonate treatment in women

Andreas Bernhard 1 , Petar Milovanovic 1, , Michael Hahn 1 , Danijela Djonic 2 , Matthias Krause 1 , Stefan Breer 1 , Klaus Pueschel 3 , Elizabeth A Zimmermann 1, , Marija Djuric 2 , Michael Amling 1 & Bjoern Busse 1


1Department of Osteology and Biomechanics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; 2Laboratory for Anthropology, School of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; 3Department of Forensic Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; 4Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.


Bone remodeling is the key process in bone structural reorganization, and its alterations lead to changes in bone mechanical strength. Since osteons reflect different bone remodeling patterns, we hypothesize that the femoral cortex of females with miscellaneous age, disease, and treatment conditions will display distinct osteonal morphology and osteocyte lacunar numbers along with different mechanical properties.

The specimens used in this study were collected at autopsy from 35 female donors (young group, n=6, age: 32±8 years; aged group, n=10, age 79±9 years; osteoporosis group, n=10, age of 81±9 years; bisphosphonate group, n=9, age 81±7 years). Von Kossa modified stained femoral proximal diaphyseal sections were evaluated for osteonal morphometric parameters and osteocyte lacunar data. Geometrical indices of osteonal cross-sections were calculated to assess the mechanical stability of individual osteons, in terms of their resistance to compression, bending, and buckling.

The morphological assessment of osteons and quantification of their osteocyte lacunae revealed significant differences between the young, aged, osteoporosis, and bisphosphonate-treated groups. Calculated osteonal geometric indices provided estimates of the osteons’ resistance to compression, bending and buckling, showing that fracture susceptibility can be already deduced from individual osteons characteristics. In particular, the osteons in the bisphosphonate-treated group presented a significant restoration of most morphological parameters and numbers of osteocyte lacunae that had been formerly impaired due to aging and osteoporosis.

The data derived from osteons (as the basic structural units of the cortical bone) in different skeletal conditions can be employed to highlight structural factors contributing to the fracture susceptibility of various groups of individuals.

Volume 1

European Calcified Tissue Society Congress 2013

Lisbon, Portugal
18 May 2013 - 22 May 2013

European Calcified Tissue Society 

Browse other volumes

Article tools

My recent searches

No recent searches.