The interface between bone and cartilage in aging and osteoarthritis
Project description
The bone-cartilage interface is among the least understood biological tissues. Changes in subchondral bone and mineralized cartilage are related to the initiation and pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA), the most serious and disabling joint disease. However, many questions on aging and disease-related changes of the biomechanical and mechanobiological properties of the multi-tissue region anchoring cartilage to bone remain unanswered.
By integrating state-of-the-art experimental approaches with computational models, the goals of the project are:
1) To characterize tissue-level material, mechanical and failure properties of subchondral bone, mineralized cartilage and the bone-cartilage interface.
2) To evaluate the effects of heterogeneous mechanical properties on load transfer mechanisms from cartilage to bone at multiple length scales.
3) To predict fluid flow through the lacunocanalicular network and vascular channels in subchondral tissue as a surrogate measure of bone mechanoresponsiveness and to understand interstitial fluid transport through the bone-cartilage interface as a descriptor of cross-talk between bone and cartilage.
To achieve these goals, the latest well-established sub-micrometer imaging and mechanical testing techniques will be combined with a unique computational approach.
Firstly, the framework is applied to an animal model, which provides a well-controlled setting to investigate the effect of aging on biomechanical and mechanobiological properties. Then, the developed approach will be used to characterize a cohort of healthy and osteoarthritic human samples to identify changes associated with OA and their effect on mechanics, fluid exchange and cross-talk between tissues.
Contacts
✏️ Laura Müller
