Mapping the Pb spatial accumulation in bones around cement lines by using anomalous imaging CT coupled with XRF/SWAXS-CT

Bone constantly remodels. During remodeling bone can release necessary ions in the blood or change its own spatial chemical composition to protect other organs from toxic exposure. One of the toxic elements, lead (Pb), particularly accumulates in osteonal canal and cement lines, microns-thick borderlines of not yet fully known structure and composition, that act as indicators of bone turnover. Understanding how Pb enters bone during remodeling will provide new information on how biomineralization works and improve our understanding of lead intoxication. Thus, we propose to spatially map in 3D the presence of Pb near cement lines with submicron resolution across individuals with different environmental exposure to Pb using (1) absorption CT above and below Pb K-edge and (2) XRF-CT, coupled with WAXS-CT to confirm the absorption CT results and determine whether Pb substitution changes the biomineral crystallites.