Trabecular packet-level lamellar density patterns differ by fracture status and bone formation rate in white females.

Spatial patterns of mineralization for human iliac crest cancellous bone were measured from images obtained by quantitative backscattered electron microscopy. Biopsies collected from vertebral fracture patients and healthy individuals with high or low bone formation rate (BFR(s)) were examined (fracture/low BFR(s): N=12, fracture/high BFR(s): N=10, normal/low BFR(s): N=12, normal/high BFR(s): N=15). 20 by 20 pixel square areas or smaller were sampled from superficial and deep remodeling packets.

Human iliac crest cancellous bone elastic modulus and hardness differ with bone formation rate per bone surface but not by existence of prevalent vertebral fracture.

The goals of this study were to measure tissue-level elastic moduli and hardness of human cancellous bone using nanoindentation, and determine the relationship between nanoindentation results and previously measured bone histomorphometric variables and bone mineralization. Forty iliac crest biopsies were used in this study, which were collected from Caucasian females with vertebral fracture or from a normal healthy female Caucasian population. They were also categorized into two groups according to high or low bone formation rate per bone surface (BFR/BS).