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Figure 1
Schematic diagram of the hierarchical structures in bone from human or other higher animals. (a) Macroscopic bone: ~ a few cm. (b) Haversian osteons in cortical bone: ~100 µm, consisting of several concentric lamellar layers that are built from parallel collagen fibers. (c) Fine structure of collagen fiber: ~5 µm lateral, consisting of collagen fibrils: ~50–100 nm lateral. (d) Collagen molecular packing with mineral in the fibril: ~67 nm long period, ~1.5 nm lateral. Collagen molecules are shown as green and yellow rods. Mineral crystals are shown as blue tiles. The figure has a 10:1 aspect ratio distortion. (e) Single molecule triple helix: ~1.0 nm lateral. (f) Uncalcified collagen matrix (also with a 10:1 aspect ratio distortion). (g) True aspect ratio of molecular packing in fibril.

Journal logoJOURNAL OF
APPLIED
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
ISSN: 1600-5767
Volume 40| Part s1| January 2007| Pages s666-s668
doi:10.1107/S0021889806054409
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