Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Molly Stevens

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Materials

Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6804m.stevens

 
 
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Location

 

208Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Reznikov:2018:10.1126/science.aao2189,
author = {Reznikov, N and Bilton, M and Lari, L and Stevens, MM and Kroger, R},
doi = {10.1126/science.aao2189},
journal = {Science},
pages = {1--10},
title = {Fractal-like hierarchical organization of bone begins at the nanoscale},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2189},
volume = {360},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - INTRODUCTION: The components of bone assemble hierarchically to provide stiffness and toughness. Deciphering the specific organization and relationship between bone’s principal components—mineral and collagen—requires answers to three main questions: whether the association of the mineral phase with collagen follows an intrafibrillar or extrafibrillar pattern, whether the morphology of the mineral building blocks is needle- or platelet-shaped, and how the mineral phase maintains continuity across an extensive network of cross-linked collagen fibrils. To address these questions, a nanoscale level of three-dimensional (3D) structural characterization is essential and has now been performed.RATIONALE: Because bone has multiple levels of 3D structural hierarchy, 2D imaging methods that do not detail the structural context of a sample are prone to interpretation bias. Site-specific focused ion beam preparation of lamellar bone with known orientation of the analyzed sample regions allowed us to obtain imaging data by 2D high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and to identify individual crystal orientations. We studied higher-level bone mineral organization within the extracellular matrix by means of scanning TEM (STEM) tomography imaging and 3D reconstruction, as well as electron diffraction to determine crystal morphology and orientation patterns. Tomographic data allowed 3D visualization of the mineral phase as individual crystallites and/or aggregates that were correlated with atomic-resolution TEM images and corresponding diffraction patterns. Integration of STEM tomography with HRTEM and crystallographic data resulted in a model of 3D mineral morphology and its association with the organic matrix.RESULTS: To visualize and characterize the crystallites within the extracellular matrix, we recorded imaging data of the bone mineral in two orthogonal projections with respect to the arrays of mineralized collagen fibrils. Three motifs of
AU  - Reznikov,N
AU  - Bilton,M
AU  - Lari,L
AU  - Stevens,MM
AU  - Kroger,R
DO  - 10.1126/science.aao2189
EP  - 10
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 0036-8075
SP  - 1
TI  - Fractal-like hierarchical organization of bone begins at the nanoscale
T2  - Science
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2189
UR  - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6388/eaao2189
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/58890
VL  - 360
ER  -
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