Orientation, composition and crystallographic properties of bone mineral around osteocyte lacunae and canaliculi

Bone consists primarily of mineralized collagen fibrils arranged in specific patterns. It is traversed by a network of cells housed in lacunae interconnected by few-hundred-nanometer wide canaliculi. The organic matrix around the osteocyte network differs from that further away, but limited knowledge is available about the mineral phase. We hypothesize that it differs in orientation and possibly in other crystallographic properties. This is based on preliminary data that, however, did not have sufficient resolution to fully test the hypothesis due to insufficient flux. With the EBS, we aim to test the hypothesis by scanning XRD/XRF on thin slices of bone since the EBS is expected to have sufficient flux to allow this challenging experiment. The osteocyte network is vast and proving how its associated mineral is organized will have importance for bone mechanics and diseases in bone turnover.