Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 5: Posters: Biopolymers and Biomaterials
BP 5.14: Poster
Monday, March 22, 2010, 17:15–20:00, Poster B1
Volume imaging of collagen fibrils within cortical bone — •Stephanie Röper1, Nadine Drechsel1, Anke Bernstein2, and Robert Magerle1 — 1Chemische Physik, TU Chemnitz, D-09107 Chemnitz — 2Experimentelle Orthopädie, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, D-06097 Halle/Saale
Biological materials such as bone and teeth are nanocomposites of a soft organic matrix (mainly type I collagen) that is reinforced by a stiff inorganic component (hydroxylapatite). Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) based nanotomography is a novel approach to image these materials on the sub-micrometer scale. For SPM based nanotomography the specimen is ablated layer-by-layer by stepwise wet chemical etching and imaged with tapping mode SPM after each etching step. Here, we focus on human cortical bone which was first mechanically grinded and polished, then stepwise etched with formic acid and sodium hypochlorite and finally flushed to stop the etching process. In the resulting series of SFM images we mapped the position and orientation of the collagen fibrils with the typical D-band periodicity of 67 nm and reconstructed a volume image of natural collagen fibrils embedded in cortical human bone. These results are compared with reassembled collagen fibrils deposited on a solid substrate.