Abstract
Bone is a composite of two main components: a biopolymer, collagen, and a mineral phase, carbonated hydroxyapatite. The collagen fi brils alternate orientation in the concentric rings that surround the main blood vessels (osteons), and the minerals lie primarily within the collagen fi brils. The purpose of this work was to investigate the structural and mechanical properties of demineralized and deproteinated compact and cancellous bone and to compare to untreated bone. Optical microscope, SEM and TEM observations were made and CT scans were used to reconstruct the 3D structure of both demineralzied and deproteinated samples. We found the concentric ring structure of the osteons to be undisturbed after demineralization. Compression tests on the compact bone showed that the sum of the stress-strain curves for demineralized and deproteinated bone was far lower than that of the untreated bone, indicating a strong molecular interaction between the two phases. (Support: National Science Foundation DMR 0510138).