Twisted plywood architecture of collagen fibrils in human compact bone osteons |
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Authors: | M M Giraud-Guille |
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Institution: | (1) Centre de Biologie Cellulaire, EPHE and CNRS, 67, rue Maurice-Günsbourg, 94200 Ivry-sur Seine, France |
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Abstract: | Summary Ultrathin sections of decalcified human compact bone, observed by transmission electron microscopy, reveal that collagen fibrils
can be distributed in the form of a superimposed series of nested arcs. This characteristic pattern has never been interpreted
in previous works on compact bone structure. We demonstrate, by goniometric observations at the ultrastructural level, that
such series of nested arcs are a consequence of the “twisted plywood” architecture of collagen fibrils in the compact bone
matrix. In the same specimens, an “orthogonal plywood” disposition of collagen fibrils is also observed; a transition exists
between these two types of orders. We show that the “twisted plywood structure” accounts well for certain optical properties
of osteons, observed in polarizing microscopy, described as “intermediate osteons.” The particular geometry of collagen fibrils,
leading to nested arcs in oblique sections, is analogous to the distribution of molecules in certain liquid crystals (called
cholesteric liquid crystals). The principle of a liquid crystalline self-assembly of the collagen matrix in bone is therefore
discussed. |
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Keywords: | Human compact bone Osteons Collagen fibrils Twisted plywood Cholesteric liquid crystal |
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