Manipulating the Amount and Structure of the Organic Matrix Affects the Water Compartments of Human Cortical Bone

Being predictors of the mechanical properties of human cortical bone, bound and pore water measurements by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are being developed for the clinical assessment of fracture risk. While pore water is a surrogate of cortical bone porosity, the determinants of bound water are unknown. Manipulation of organic matrix properties by oxidative deproteinization, thermal denaturation, or nonenzymatic glycation lowers bone toughness. Because bound water contributes to bone toughness, we hypothesized that each of these matrix manipulations affect bound water fraction (V(bw)/V(bone)). Immersing cadaveric bone samples in sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) for 96 hours did not affect tissue mineral density or cortical porosity, but rather decreased V(bw)/V(bone) and increased short‐T(2) pore water signals as determined by (1)H nuclear MR relaxometry ((1)H NMR). Moreover, the post treatment V(bw)/V(bone) linearly correlated with the remaining weight fraction of the organic matrix. Heating bone samples at 110°C, 120°C, 130°C, and then 140°C (∼24 hours per temperature and rehydration for ∼24 hours before (1)H NMR analysis) did not affect V(bw)/V(bone). After subsequently heating them at 200°C, V(bw)/V(bone) increased. Boiling bone samples followed by heating at 110°C, 120°C, and then 130°C in water under pressure (8 hours per temperature) had a similar effect on V(bw)/V(bone). Raman spectroscopy analysis confirmed that the increase in V(bw)/V(bone) coincided with an increase in an Amide I subpeak ratio that is sensitive to changes in the helical structure of collagen I. Glycation of bone by ribose for 4 weeks, but not in glucose for 16 weeks, decreased V(bw)/V(bone), although the effect was less pronounced than that of oxidative deproteinization or thermal denaturation. We propose that MR measurements of bound water reflect the amount of bone organic matrix and can be modulated by collagen I helicity and by sugar‐derived post translational modifications of the matrix. © 2019 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.