810 Relationship between trabecular orientation and trabecular material/mechanical properties

Cancellous bone is comprised of the network structure of trabeculae, which results structural and mechanical anisotropic properties. These suggest the relevance of investigating the mechanical properties of cancellous bone with relation to structural properties of cancellous bone and the mechanical properties of trabeculae. In this article, the mean intercept length and fablic ellipsoid analyses and conventional compression test were performed for cancellous bone, and the mechanical properties of single trabeculae were examined by means of three-point bending test and Vickers hardness test, and the content of hydroxyapatite in trabeculae was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis. The results showed that mechanical properties of trabeculae were dependent on the trabecular orientation and its content of hydroxyapatite. Based on the results from these measurements, mechanical anisotropy of cancellous bone was affected not only by structural properties of cancellous bone but also by trabecular mechanical properties.