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On the Relation of Bone Mineral Density and the Elastic Modulus in Healthy and Pathologic Bone

  • Biomechanics (G Niebur and J Wallace, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Osteoporosis Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Osteoporosis could lead to the bone mechanical failure. To examine the bone health, mechanical properties are often estimated from the images of the bone density. Here, we review the relationships that have been experimentally determined between mineral density and the elastic modulus and factors that affect these relationships.

Recent Findings

Studies, which have investigated the relation between the elastic modulus and bone mineral at the bulk scale, have shown that approximately 70% of variations in the elastic modulus can be explained based on the amount of mineral in bone. At the tissue level, however, higher resolution techniques are used to characterize the density and modulus more locally, and this leads to the correlation of mineral with modulus to be not as strong as that of the bulk level and often times, insignificant. This observation indicates the importance of structural hierarchy and mineral crystal organization in determining the local stiffness of the bone tissue.

Summary

At the bulk level in bone (cm scale), modulus (E) is related to density (ρ) through a power law relationship (E ∝ ρα). At the tissue level (μm–mm scale), the relationship between the modulus and density is weak, likely due to the effect of microstructural features at small length scales.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Sabah Nobakhti & Sandra J. Shefelbine

  2. Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Sandra J. Shefelbine

Authors
  1. Sabah Nobakhti
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  2. Sandra J. Shefelbine
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Correspondence to Sandra J. Shefelbine.

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Sabah Nobakhti and Sandra Shefelbine declare no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Biomechanics

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Nobakhti, S., Shefelbine, S.J. On the Relation of Bone Mineral Density and the Elastic Modulus in Healthy and Pathologic Bone. Curr Osteoporos Rep 16, 404–410 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-018-0449-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-018-0449-5

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