Modal analysis of nanoindentation data, confirming that reduced bone turnover may cause increased tissue mineralization/elasticity

It is widely believed that the activities of bone cells at the tissue scale not only govern the size of the vascular pore spaces (and hence, the amount of bone tissue available for actually carrying the loads), but also the characteristics of the extracellular bone matrix itself. In this context, increased mechanical stimulation (in mediolateral regions of human femora, as compared to anteroposterior regions) may lead to increased bone turnover, lower bone matrix mineralization, and therefore lower tissue modulus. On the other hand, resorption-only processes (in endosteal versus periosteal regions) may have the opposite effect. A modal analysis of nanoindentation data obtained on femurs from the Melbourne Femur Research Collection (MFRC) indeed confirms that bone is stiffer in endosteal regions compared to periosteal regions (E̅endost = 29.34 ± 0.75 GPa > E̅periost = 24.67 ± 1.63 GPa), most likely due to the aging-related increase in resorption modeling on endosteal surfaces resulting in trabecularization of cortical bone. The results also show that bone is stiffer along the anteroposterior direction compared the mediolateral direction (E̅anteropost = 28.89 ± 1.08 GPa > E̅mediolat = 26.03 ± 2.31 GPa), the former being aligned with the neutral bending axis of the femur and, thus, undergoing more resorption modeling and consequently being more mineralized.