Journal of biomechanics
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Journal of biomechanics · May 2016
μFE models can represent microdamaged regions of healthy and metastatically involved whole vertebrae identified through histology and contrast enhanced μCT imaging.
Micro-damage formation within the skeleton is an important stimulant for bone remodeling, however abnormal build-up of micro-damage can lead to skeletal fragility. In this study, µCT imaging based micro finite element (μFE) models were used to evaluate tissue level damage criteria in whole healthy and metastatically-involved vertebrae. T13-L2 spinal segments were excised from osteolytic (n=3) and healthy (n=3) female athymic rnu/rnu rats. ⋯ Additionally, damaged regions of metastatic vertebrae experienced significantly higher local stresses and strains than those in the damaged regions of healthy specimens. Areas identified by BaSO4 staining, however, yielded lower levels of stress and strain in damaged and undamaged regions of healthy and metastatic vertebrae as compared to fuschin staining. The multimodal (experimental, image-based and computational) techniques used in this study demonstrated the ability of local stresses and strains computed through µFE analysis to identify trabecular micro-damage, that can be applied to biomechanical analyses of healthy and diseased whole bones.