Mechanical properties of rat epiphyseal cancellous bones studied by indentation testing

Twenty-six pairs of rat femoral heads, distal femurs, proximal tibiae, and humeral heads were tested using an indentation test with a flat-ended cylindrical indentor. A useful mechanical data set including ultimate load, stiffness, and ultimate strength has been generated. Differences were found between the cancellous bones at different locations. Good correlations have been obtained between indentation depth (at 50 N load) and ultimate strength (R=-0.937, p < 0.05), which means that with an increase of ultimate strength the indentation depth or deformation decreased proportionally. Based on the experimental results and the comparison with other methods in the literature, the simplicity and usefulness of this indentation test to evaluate compressive mechanical properties of rat epiphyseal cancellous bone are apparent.