Vertebral trabecular tissue modulus of goat as compared to human using ultrasonic and microct approach

Abstract

Little is known if there are similarities in vertebral trabecular bones of goat and human spine. This study is to verify if goat spine can be used for research at the bone tissue level. We extracted goat vertebral traebcular bone cubes and located trabecular rods that span the entire cube's length using microCT imaging to facilitate ultrasonic testing. An average acoustic velocity of 3112 m/s was obtained and correlated tissue modulus to hounsfield number. Average correlation was strong at 0.7661 in all directions and tissue modulus did not exhibit directionality. Compared to human, the modulus obtain from this study were within range. This suggests that it is the microarchitecture of trabecular bone that attributes to its anisotropy and variations in apparent modulus at different anatomical location and species.