Mineralization-driven bone tissue evolution follows from fluid-to-solid phase transformations in closed thermodynamic...

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Experimental research has well-evidenced fundamental mechanisms of bone mineralization.
• However, rules governing the volume and composition of bone tissue compartments remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if mineralizing bone tissue can be modeled as a thermodynamically closed system.
• To establish rules for the evolution of bone tissue compartment volumes and compositions.

Main Methods:

• Testing the mass conservation proposition for fibrillar and extrafibrillar bone tissue compartments.
• Translating the mass conservation proposition into diffraction-mass density relations.

Main Results:

• The mass conservation proposition for bone tissue compartments was well-confirmed by independent experimental data.
• New rules for bone tissue shrinkage and composition were derived.

Conclusions:

• Mineralizing bone tissue can be represented as a thermodynamically closed system with preserved compartment masses.
• The derived rules are beneficial for advancing bone materials science and biomedical engineering.