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Critical Reviews™ in Biomedical Engineering

ISSN for PRINT: 0278-940X

Institutional price:	$1677.00
Issues per year:	6

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2006, Volume34

90 pages

Issue price - $266.00

Microdamage in Bone: Implications for Fracture, Repair, Remodeling, and Adaptation

Seth W. Donahue
Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan

Sarah A. Galley
Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan

ABSTRACT

Fatigue microdamage accumulates in bone as a result of physiological loading. The damage is often manifested as microcracks, which are typically 50−100 μm long. These types of cracks develop in the interstitial bone and frequently abut osteon cement lines. In vitro experimentation has shown that an accumulation of fatigue damage reduces the material properties of bone (e.g., elastic modulus). An accumulation of fatigue damage has been implicated in the etiology of stress fractures and fragility fractures. However, bone has a remarkable ability to detect and repair fatigue microdamage. This article reviews the experimental techniques for identifying and quantifying different types of microdamage in bone, the density of in vivo microcracks at different skeletal locations, the effect of microdamage on bone material properties, the role of microdamage in bone fracture, and the biological mechanisms for the detection and repair of fatigue microdamage.