Bone 2012,50,420–427.pdf

Bone 50 (2012) 420–427 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Bone journal homepage: /locate/bone Review Applications of atomic force microscopy for the assessment of nanoscale morphological and mechanical properties of bone Joseph M. Wallace ⁎ Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 723 W Michigan St. SL220D, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has been in use for 30 years, and the form of SPM known as atomic force Received 19 September 2011 microscopy (AFM) has been around for 25 of those years. AFM has been used to produce high resolution im- Revised 1 November 2011 ages of a variety of samples ranging from DNA to carbon nanotubes. Type I collagen and many collagen-based Accepted 14 November 2011 tissues (including dentin, tendon, cartilage, skin, fascia, vocal cords, and cornea) have been studied with AFM, Available online 25 November 2011 but comparatively few studies of bone have been undertaken. The purpose of this review is to introduce the Edited by: T. Jack Martin general principles of AFM operation, demonstrate what AFM has been used for in bone research, and discuss the new directions that this technique can