1 Nobel Prize winner
3 GeV SPEAR3 accelerator
30 experimental stations
300+ institutions participating
Over 2000 scientists
The 3D structure of bone is critical for maintaining strength. Skeletal diseases such as osteoporosis and environmental conditions such as weightlessness, radiation, and vitamin D deficiency can affect bone structure. Understanding the 3D structure of bone is critical to understanding how these conditions affect bone’s form and function.
Tomography of single bone trabecula imaged from -90 to 90 degrees
A team that included scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, Cornell University, Xradia Inc., and SSRL has developed a technique that can be used to image bone structure in 3D at high (30 nanometer) resolution. They used the transmission X ray microscope (TXM) on SSRL beam line 6-2 to visualize bone from mice that had undergone a process to simulate weightlessness. Using mathematically reconstructed tomography (nano-CT) images, they created a 3D image of the bone’s nanostructures. The scientists were also able to measure bone density on a fine scale.
These techniques can be used to discern the difference between normal and diseased or distressed bone, and responses to treatment. They can also characterize nanoscale changes in bone structures due to weightlessness, and identify differences in subsequent bone regrowth upon weight bearing. This work is of particular interest to NASA because they are interested in the long-term effects of weightlessness on bone density and nanostructure. This work was published in the June issue of Microscopy and Microanalysis.
Andrews, J.C., Almeida, E., van der Meulen, M.C.H., Alwood, J.S., Lee, C., Liu, Y., Chen, J., Meirer, F., Feser, M., Gelb, J., Rudati, J., Tkachuk, A., Yun, W., Pianetta, P. 2010. Nanoscale X-ray Microscopic Imaging of Mammalian Mineralized Tissue. Microscopy and Microanalysis 16(3): 327-336.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA
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