Trabecular bone remodelling simulated by a stochastic exchange of discrete bone packets from the surface

Hartmann, M. A.; Dunlop, J. W. C.; Bréchet, Y. J. M.; Fratzl, P.; Weinkamer, R.

Affiliations

¹Institute of Physics, University of Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, 8700 Leoben, Austria

²Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, Potsdam 14424, Germany

³SIMAP, BP75, Grenoble INP, 38402 St Martin d‘Hères cedex, France

Abstract and keywords

Human bone is constantly renewed through life via the process of bone remodelling, in which individual packets of bone are removed by osteoclasts and replaced by osteoblasts. Remodelling is mechanically controlled, where osteocytes embedded within the bone matrix are thought to act as mechanical sensors. In this computational work, a stochastic model for bone remodelling is used in which the renewal of bone material occurs by exchange of discrete bone packets. We tested different hypotheses of how the mechanical stimulus for bone remodelling is integrated by osteocytes and sent to actor cells on the bone’s surface. A collective (summed) signal from multiple osteocytes as opposed to an individual (maximal) signal from a single osteocyte was found to lead to lower inner porosity and surface roughness of the simulated bone structure. This observation can be interpreted in that collective osteocyte signalling provides an effective surface tension to the remodelling process. Furthermore, the material heterogeneity due to remodelling was studied on a network of trabeculae. As the model is discrete, the age of individual bone packets can be monitored with time. The simulation results were compared with experimental data coming from quantitative back scattered electron imaging by transforming the information about the age of the bone packet into a mineral content. Discrepancies with experiments indicate that osteoclasts preferentially resorb low mineralized, i.e. young, bone at the bone’s surface.

Keywords: Bone remodelling; Computer simulation; Osteocyte network; Surface tension; Mineral content; Mechanobiology

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2011.03.005

PubMed: 21616469

WoS: 000292577900007

History

Online: 2011-03-09

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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.
2018	Bachmann S. Age, Sex and Treatment Related Changes of Bone Mineral Density Based on Ct Data [Master's thesis]. Vienna University of Technology; October 2018.
2023	Tits A. Attaching Soft to Hard: A Multimodal Correlative Investigation of the Tendon-Bone Interface [PhD thesis]. Liège, Belgique: Université de Liège; 2023.