It is widely accepted that bone strength depends on both its
structural and material properties. The latter, although important,
are difficult to establish until fairly recently. The new generation
of infrared microspectroscopic and imaging instruments
offers a unique tool in determining the material properties
of bone as they allow the study of thin tissue sections and
the determination of important parameters such as mineral
maturity/crystallinity and collagen cross-links ratio in a spatially
resolved manner, thus enabling the correlation with
bone turnover. Despite the fact that the utility of such techniques
as mass screening tools is currently debated since a
biopsy is required, studies employing this technology have
advanced our knowledge of the underlying mechanism of
bone disease and the course of action of various therapeutic
protocols
