On Mineral and Water Content in Bovine Bone

Water plays an important role in influencing the physical properties of biological tissues. On the basis of water content, biological tissues are differentiated as soft and hard. Water is comparatively high in scapula and low in femur when compared to the rib. The paper presents a comparative account on density of wet; oven dried and decalcified bovine bones. The elements present, in traces, in bovine scapula, rib and femur bone also presented. The study reveals that the magnesium plays a major role in the deposition of apatite in the matrix of proteins present in the hard tissues. Among the bones studied, the calcium deposition is comparatively high in femur than rib and scapula, while the magnesium content is low. It can be concluded that the magnesium regulates the deposition of calcium phosphate in the tissue. The calcium deposition decreases as the concentration of magnesium increases in the tissue.