The D-spacing that is characteristic of collagen and its structural arrangement was previously thought to be a constant value. Much research is revealing that it is actually a distribution of values in biological tissues. Recent ovine experimentation has also shown that the D-spacing distribution is significantly altered following estrogen depletion. While ewes contain some major biological differences between their human counterparts, they are an economical and robust large animal model for postmenopausal osteoporosis. So, the exploration of the possible implications that D-spacing has on the mechanical properties of the whole bone utilizing animal models and computational methods is warranted. Six Warhill ewes were used in this experiment and were either ovariectomized or underwent a sham surgery. The animals were sacrificed after 3 years and the radius and ulna bone were harvested for further analysis. Rectangular beams of compact bone tissue were machined from six different sectors in the whole bone and dynamic mechanical analysis tests were performed on the 24 specimens. The
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