Figure 3

Contrast-enhanced imaging of mechanical load-induced bone microdamage in rat femora. Samples were loaded in three-point bending to 5% or 10% reduction in secant modulus and stained by barium sulfate (BaSO₄) precipitation. Load-induced microcracks provide nucleation sites for barium and sulfate ions to accumulate. BaSO₄ signal featured a linear attenuation coefficient approximately three times that of rat cortical bone, enabling co-registration of microdamage by microcomputed tomography. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [10].