Microdiffraction studies of bone tissues using synchrotron radiation

This is the first report on a series of studies of the crystallinity of bone tissues. The measurements were done at the microfocused diffraction beamline at ERSF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) as a feasibility test on various aspects on microdiffraction analysis. Beside the crystal structure, crystallite size distribution and preferential orientation were also studied, with a spatial resolution of 7 μm. The experiments were performed at the microfocus beam line 1 at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The samples were longitudinal and transversal cuts from human femoral shafts. Over 65 diffraction lines from apatite structure could be identified. The results show that the bone crystallites seem to be oriented in two orthogonal directions, one parallel with the Haversian system and the other perpendicular following the lamella’s curvature. Peak width analysis shows that the crystallites are about 25–40 nm along the c-axis with a width of about 10 nm. The result also shows that the peak width is somewhat larger close to the haversian canal compared with the outer region of the osteon.