BACKGROUND: The core of bone tissue engineering is to construct a scaffold that is similar to human bone tissue structure and features.OBJECTIVE: To compare pathochemical and mechanical characteristics between pig and human bone scaffold materials.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: Contrast study was performed at Clinical Anatomy Institute, South Medical University; Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Tissue Construction and Detection from March to December 2006.MATERIALS: Four fresh health adult human cadavers were provided by South Medical University, Guangzhou Red Cross Society, and the relatives knew the fact. Ultra low temperature freezing 6-month iliac bones of 6 adult swines were also used in this study.METHODS: Pig iliac and healthy adults iliac bones were obtained to remove soft tissue, curettage periosteum and bone marrow. Bone sawing machine was used to cut cancellous bone into smaller bone sections around 5 mm×5 mm×40 mm, which underwent ultrasonic cleaning, H2O2 and alcohol soaking, freeze drying and radiation treatment; finally, xenogeneic bone scaffold and allogeneic bone scaffold were obtained.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Xenogeneic bone scaffold material and human allograft bone scaffold were observed with scanning electron microscopy to compare porosity, contents of protein content, calcium and phosphorus, and mechanical properties.RESULTS: Xenogeneic bone scaffold and allogeneic bone scaffold both had intrinsical bone trabecula, trabecular spaces and bone cavity system. Both of them had unabridged natural three dimensional network structure. The 3D supporting frames of them were complete. The xenogeneic bone scaffold had more spaces than allogeneic bone scaffold. The size of both scaffolds was approximation, about 400 μm. The interval porosity of xenogeneic bone scaffold was higher than the allogeneic bone scaffold (P<0.05). And the protein of xenogeneic bone scaffold was not as many as it of allogeneic bone scaffold (P<0.05). The contents of Ca and P were similar (P>0.05), and there was no significant difference in Young's modulus of xenogeneic bone scaffold and allogeneic bone scaffold (P>0.05).CONCLUSION: Xenogeneic bone scaffold may completely meet the clinical demands for bone grafting or be the scaffold of bone tissue engineering in mechanical chemical properties.