Microsoft Word - Bryan's Senior Thesis FINAL VERSION.doc

Abstract Effects of freezing bone at -20°C were tested using the Reference Point Indentation instrument on swine, foul, bovine femur, and human tibia. The effect of freeze-thaw cycles varied depending on the anatomy of the bone, but in all cases, the effect on the mechanical properties was smaller than the natural variation of those properties across a sample. Degradation on key mechanical tests was always found to be 15% or less. Subsequent freeze thaw cycles had no effect on further degration of the bone samples. Duration of freezing was negligible compared to phase-change and too small to measure on the time scale of 35 days. Furthermore, significant evidence was found supporting the theory that freezing degrades the organic portion of the extracellular matrix