CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

When performing studies on bone samples aiming at analyzing its physical characteristics suchas hardness, density and health, typically it is used to utilize different equipment for thequantification of electron density, which results proportional to mass density, which is directlyrelated to bone mineral density. The test known as bone densitometry is usually done using X-ray equipment, ultrasound or through the utilization of radioactive isotopes. This analysisquantifies the amount of mineral bone on a surface and is usually implemented to assess, amongothers, risks of fractures or the osteoporosis state in a patient. The computed tomographytechnique uses two-dimensional X-ray images and tomographic reconstruction methodsimplemented on computational algorithms to obtain information about the internal structure ofan object in a nondestructively way. Specially developed equipment able to obtain images with sub-millimeter resolution, results in the technique known as micro-tomography. The ability tostudy bone structures at sub-millimeter levels and obtain three-dimensional morphologicalimages with electron density information, presents an important option for specific studies onbone growth and studies on new components that allow the growth of damaged tissues. In thispaper rabbits cranium bone samples where certain areas have been damaged and have beenfilled with different substances specially designed to evaluate repair responses on bone tissueare analyzed. The analysis is performed in order to study the performance of the micro-tomography technique developed in the laboratory in order to observe its potentiality in thistype of studies and the ability of these analysis in the characterization of the physical propertiesof such samples.