Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cressey, B. A. Articles by Cressey, G. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

A model for the composite nanostructure of bone suggested by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
² Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK

^* E-mail: G.Cressey{at}nhm.ac.uk

We have imaged the spatially-preserved microtexture of biogenic apatite, retained together with its collagen template, in non-demineralized human bone using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Using ion-beam thinning, a specimen preparation method generally employed for inorganic minerals rather than for biological materials, we have imaged a composite nanostructure of bone not previously reported, and we propose a model for this nano-architecture that involves a box-construction of apatite plates and apatite sheets. This observation provides a new understanding of bone strength at the nanometre scale and suggests how post mortem enhancement of this texture by recrystallization probably accounts for the durability of ancient bone. Modern sheep bone (a close analogue for recently dead human bone) imaged in the same way also shows evidence of this composite architecture.

KEYWORDS: bone, apatite, transmission electron microscopy

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. Valsami-Jones and D. A. C. Manning Environmental Mineralogy: introduction to a thematic set of papers arising out of sessions held at IMA 2002, Edinburgh, UK Mineralogical Magazine, December 1, 2003; 67(6): 1123 - 1125. [Full Text] [PDF]