Method for Non-Destructive Determination of Inorganic and Organic Material in Mineralized Tissues

Microradiographic methods have been used for quantitative analyses on a cellular level of the amount of inorganic material in bone and teeth.The only hitherto available procedure for absolute determinations consists of the elementary analysis of calcium utilizing the difference in the mass absorption coefficient on either side of the X absorption edge of calcium (ENGSTROM 1946, LINDSTROM 1955, ROCKERT 1958).All other methods give the mineral content cjf a specimen expressed as the amount of a reference material of known roentgen absorption (AMPRINO and ENGSTROM 1952, OWEN 1956) where the amount of reference material may be transformed into an amount of hydroxyapatite ( ROWLAND, JOWSEY and MAR-SHALL 1959), or as the linear absorption coefficient of the specimen (HOLMSTRAND 1957, WALLGREN 1957, NILSONNE 1959).Polychromatic roentgen radiation can be used for the former procedure, while the latter method requires relatively monochromatic radiation, the wavelength of which should be such that the absorption in the organic fraction of mineralized tissues can be neglected.The thickness of the specimens must also be determined, mainly by the microscopic measurement of the profiles of the cut and tilted specimens.The degree of