| Abstract Scope |
Bone is the major component of the human body, operating as its protective load-bearing framework, but also as fundamental parts of its auditory system that through vibrations and conduction allow hearing. Composition and structure of the bone over many length-scales are responsible for its strength, toughness, ability to adapt to mechanical loads and thus capacity to transfer sound to the brain. Aging, disease and abnormal loads on bone alter its composition and disrupt its hierarchical structure, affecting bone’s mechanical environment and biological properties, thus increasing its vulnerability to fractures and deformities that in turn generate disabilities, such as reduced mobility and hearing loss. We examined ear bone structure, composition and mechanics at multiple length scales, in order to determine how small changes at the molecular level in osteogenesis imperfecta (OI or brittle bone disease) drastically ramifies at larger length scales, resulting in auditory impairments. |