Regional differences in trabecular BMD and micro-architecture of weight-bearing bone under habitual gait loading: a pQCT and microCT study in human cadavers

wbldb

Lai, Y. M.^1,2; Qin, L.²; Yeung, H. Y.²; Lee, K. K. H.³; Chan, K. M.²

Regional differences in trabecular BMD and micro-architecture of weight-bearing bone under habitual gait loading: a pQCT and microCT study in human cadavers

Bone. 2005;37(2):274-282

Affiliations

¹Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, PR China

²Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong SAR, PR China

³Department of Anatomy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China
Abstract and keywords

This study used both multi-slice pQCT and microCT to investigate regional changes in bone mineral density and structural parameters in the ultradistal tibia and in the mid-femoral neck under habitual gait loading. Twenty cadavers with 2 females and 18 males aged 70.8 ± 8.5 were used in this study. Seventy-two cylindrical bone cores with 5 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length from the anterior/posterior and superior/inferior regions were obtained from ultradistal tibia and mid-femur neck, respectively, so that their differences in terms of volumetric trabecular bone mineral density (tBMD) as well as micro-architectural parameters could be studied. The results showed that the mean volumetric tBMD at both the organ (including the bone marrow spaces) and tissue levels (excluding the bone marrow spaces) were a 49.2% and 28.3%, respectively, lower in the anterior bone cores than in the posterior bone cores from the ultradistal tibia (P < 0.01). MicroCT measurements on BV/TV, BS/TV, Tb.N, Tb.Th, and DA were found to be on average of 33.5%, 23.6%, 9.1%, 18.0%, and 14.6%, respectively, lower in the anterior trabecular bone cores (P < 0.001), while Tb.Sp and SMI were 12.5% and 29.3%, respectively, higher in the anterior trabecular bone cores (P < 0.01). No significant difference in micro-architectural parameters was found in the trabecular bone cores obtained from mid-femoral neck, except that the mean DA of the inferior bone cores was significantly higher by 30.1% than that of the superior bone cores (P = 0.01). A statistically significant linear relationship with the correlation coefficient, ranging from 0.37 to 0.94 and −0.62 to −0.85, respectively, was shown between the tBMD at the organ level and all of the micro-architectural parameters (P < 0.05). We suggest that dynamic loading changes during the striking of the heel in normal gait, as well as the peaks of the hip joint reaction force occur during the heel strike and before toe off positions in the lifetime of the subject may account for such regional differences in BMD and micro-architecture. The findings from the correlation study also suggest that, apart from BMD, the micro-architecture may exhibit adaptation in response to such excessive loading.

Keywords: Bone adaptation; Trabecular bone; Human cadaver; MicroCT; pQCT
Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2005.04.025

PubMed: 15961358

WoS: 000230948800018

Cited Works (24)

Year	Entry
1992	Perry J. Gait Analysis: Normal and Pathological Function. Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated; 1992.
1993	Goldstein SA, Goulet R, McCubbrey D. Measurement and significance of three-dimensional architecture to the mechanical integrity of trabecular bone. Calcif Tiss Int. February 1993;53(suppl 1):S127-S133.
1997	Kohrt WM, Ehsani AA, Birge SJ. Effects of exercise involving predominantly either joint-reaction or ground-reaction forces on bone mineral density in older women. J Bone Miner Res. August 1997;12(8):1253-1261.
1998	Jiang Y, Zhao J, Augat P, Ouyang X, Lu Y, Majumdar S, Genant HK. Trabecular bone mineral and calculated structure of human bone specimens scanned by peripheral quantitative computed tomography: relation to biomechanical properties. J Bone Miner Res. November 1998;13(11):1783-1790.
2003	Jiang Y, Zhao JJ, Mitlak BH, Wang O, Genant HK, Eriksen EF. Recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1–34) [teriparatide] improves both cortical and cancellous bone structure. J Bone Miner Res. November 2003;18(11):1932-1941.
1994	Bassey EJ, Ramsdale SJ. Increase in femoral bone density in young women following high-impact exercise. Osteoporos Int. March 1994;4(2):72-75.
1970	Singh M, Nagrath AR, Maini PS. Changes in trabecular pattern of the upper end of the femur as an index of osteoporosis. J Bone Joint Surg. April 1970;52A(3):457-467.
2003	David V, Laroche N, Boudignon B, Lafage‐Proust M, Alexandre C, Ruegsegger P, Vico L. Noninvasive in vivo monitoring of bone architecture alterations in hindlimb‐unloaded female rats using novel three‐dimensional microcomputed tomography. J Bone Miner Res. September 2003;18(9):1622-1631.
1997	Bloebaum RD, Skedros JG, Vajda EG, Bachus KN, Constantz BR. Determining mineral content variations in bone using backscattered electron imaging. Bone. May 1997;20(5):485-490.
1998	Müller R, Van Campenhout H, Van Damme B, Van der Perre G, Dequeker J, Hildebrand T, Rüegsegger P. Morphometric analysis of human bone biopsies: a quantitative structural comparison of histological sections and micro-computed tomography. Bone. July 1998;23(1):59-66.
2001	Tanck E, Homminga J, van Lenthe GH, Huiskes R. Increase in bone volume fraction precedes architectural adaptation in growing bone. Bone. June 2001;28(6):650-654.
2002	Rubin C, Turner AS, Müller R, Mittra E, McLeod K, Lin W, Qin Y. Quantity and quality of trabecular bone in the femur are enhanced by a strongly anabolic, noninvasive mechanical intervention. J Bone Miner Res. February 2002;17(2):349-357.
1997	Hildebrand T, Rüegsegger P. Quantification of bone microarchitecture with the structure model index. Comput Methods Prog Biomed. 1997;1(1):15-23.
2000	Dempster DW. The contribution of trabecular architecture to cancellous bone quality. J Bone Miner Res. January 2000;15(1):20-23.
1996	Rüegsegger P, Koller B, Müller R. A microtomographic system for the nondestructive evaluation of bone architecture. Calcif Tiss Int. 1996;58(1):24-29.
2002	Hara T, Tanck E, Homminga J, Huiskes R. The influence of microcomputed tomography threshold variations on the assessment of structural and mechanical trabecular bone properties. Bone. July 2002;31(1):107-109.
1984	Lanyon LE, Rubin CT. Static vs dynamic loads as an influence on bone remodelling. J Biomech. 1984;17(12):897-905.
1995	Lotz JC, Cheal EJ, Hayes WC. Stress distributions within the proximal femur during gait and falls: implications for osteoporotic fracture. Osteoporos Int. July 1995;5(3):252-261.
1974	Whitehouse WJ. The quantitative morphology of anisotropic trabecular bone. J Microsc (Oxford). July 1974;101:153-168.
1999	Hildebrand T, Laib A, Müller R, Dequeker J, Rüegsegger P. Direct three-dimensional morphometric analysis of human cancellous bone: microstructural data from spine, femur, iliac crest, and calcaneus. J Bone Miner Res. July 1999;14(7):1167-1174.
1999	Takano Y, Turner CH, Owan I, Martin RB, Lau ST, Forwood MR, Burr DB. Elastic anisotropy and collagen orientation of osteonal bone are dependent on the mechanical strain distribution. J Orthop Res. January 1999;17(1):59-66.
1993	Odgaard A, Gundersen HJG. Quantification of connectivity in cancellous bone, with special emphasis on 3-D reconstructions. Bone. March–April 1993;14(2):173-182.
1999	Ulrich D, van Rietbergen B, Laib A, Rüegsegger P. The ability of three-dimensional structural indices to reflect mechanical aspects of trabecular bone. Bone. 1999;25(1):55-60.
1990	Frost HM. Skeletal structural adaptations to mechanical usage (SATMU), I: redefining Wolff's law: the bone modeling problem. Anat Rec. 1990;226(4):403-413.

Cited By (12)

Year	Entry
2020	Kirby M, Morshed AH, Gomez J, Xiao P, Hu Y, Guo XE, Wang X. Three-dimensional rendering of trabecular bone microarchitecture using a probabilistic approach. Biomech Model Mechanobiol. August 2020;19(4):1263-1281.
2010	Sode M, Burghardt AJ, Kazakia GJ, Link TM, Majumdar S. Regional variations of gender-specific and age-related differences in trabecular bone structure of the distal radius and tibia. Bone. June 2010;46(6):1652-1660.
2010	Djuric M, Djonic D, Milovanovic P, Nikolic S, Marshall R, Marinkovic J, Hahn M. Region-specific sex-dependent pattern of age-related changes of proximal femoral cancellous bone and its implications on differential bone fragility. Calcif Tiss Int. March 2010;86(3):192-201.
2012	Skedros JG, Knight AN, Farnsworth RW, Bloebaum RD. Do regional modifications in tissue mineral content and microscopic mineralization heterogeneity adapt trabecular bone tracts for habitual bending? analysis in the context of trabecular architecture of deer calcanei. J Anat. March 2012;220(3):242-255.
2010	Burghardt AJ, Kazakia GJ, Sode M, de Papp AE, Link TM, Majumdar S. A longitudinal HR-pQCT study of alendronate treatment in postmenopausal women with low bone density: relations among density, cortical and trabecular microarchitecture, biomechanics, and bone turnover. J Bone Miner Res. December 2010;25(12):2558-2571.
2020	Hart NH, Newton RU, Tan2 J, Rantalainen T, Chivers P, Siafarikas A, Nimphius S. Biological basis of bone strength: anatomy, physiology and measurement. J Musculoskel Neuron Interact. September 2020;20(3):347-371.
2008	Cui W-Q, Won Y-Y, Baek M-H, Lee D-H, Chung Y-S, Hur J-H, Ma Y-Z. Age-and region-dependent changes in three-dimensional microstructural properties of proximal femoral trabeculae. Osteoporos Int. 2008;19(11):1579-1587.
2021	Du J, Hartley C, Brooke-Wavell K, Paggiosi MA, Walsh JS, Li S, Silberschmidt VV. High-impact exercise stimulated localised adaptation of microarchitecture across distal tibia in postmenopausal women. Osteoporos Int. May 2021;32(5):907-919.
2019	Du J. Mechanical Adaptation of Human Trabecular Bone: Experimental and Computational Study [PhD thesis]. Loughborough University; 2019.
2009	Lievers WB. Effects of Geometric and Material Property Changes on the Apparent Elastic Properties of Cancellous Bone [PhD thesis]. Queen's University; April 2009.
2016	Chen Y. Verification and Validation of MicroCT-Based Finite Element Models of Bone Tissue Biomechanics [PhD thesis]. Sheffield, UK: University of Sheffield; July 2016.
2011	Su A. The Functional Morphology of Subchondral and Trabecular Bone in the Hominoid Tibiotalar Joint [PhD thesis]. Stony Brook, NY: Stony Brook University; August 2011.