Kavukcuoglu, Nadire Beril. Correlating the nanoscale mechanical and chemical properties of knockout mice bones. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3GQ6Z5S
DescriptionBone is a mineral-organic composite where the organic matrix is mainly type I collagen plus small amounts of non-collagenous proteins including osteopontin (OPN), osteocalcin (OC) and fibrillin 2 (Fbn2). Mature bone undergoes remodeling continually so new bone is formed and old bone resorbed. Uncoupling between the bone resorption and bone formation causes an overall loss of bone mass and leads to diseases like osteoporosis and osteopenia. These are characterized by structural deterioration of the bone tissue and an increased risk of fracture. The non-collagenous bone proteins are known to have a role in regulating bone turnover and to affect the structural integrity of bone. OPN and OC play a key role in bone resorption and formation, while absence of Fbn-2 causes a connective tissue disorder (congenital contractural arachnodactyly) and has been associated with decreased bone mass.
In this thesis nanoindentation and Raman-microspectroscopy techniques were used to investigate and correlate the mechanical and chemical properties of cortical femoral bones from OPN deficient (OPN-/-), OC deficient (OC-/-) and Fbn-2 deficient (Fbn2-/-) mice and their age, sex and background matched wild-type controls (OPN+/+, OC+/+ and Fbn2+/+). For OPN the hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E) of under 12 week OPN-/- bones were significantly lower than for OPN+/+ bones, but Raman showed no significant difference. Mechanical properties of bones from mice older than 12 weeks were not significantly different with genotype. However, mineralization and crystallinity from >50 week OPN-/- bones were significantly higher than for OPN+/+ bones. Mechanical properties of OPN-/- bones showed no variation with age, but mineralization, crystallinity and type-B carbonate substitution increased for both genotypes. For OC-/- intra-bone analyses showed that the hardness and crystallinity of the bones were significantly higher, especially in the mid-cortical sections, compared to OC+/+ bones. Fbn2-/- bones had significantly lower hardness and elastic modulus compared to Fbn2+/+ bones, but the crystallinity was higher. Type-B carbonate substitution decreased significantly in OC-/- and Fbn2-/- bones compared to their wild-type controls.
The thesis has provided new insight into how non-collagenous proteins affect the nanomechanics and chemistry of bone tissue. This information will assist in the development of new treatments for osteopenia/osteoporosis.