Effects of body mass on microstructural features of the osteochondral unit: A comparative analysis of 37 mammalian species

I.A.D. Mancini, L. Rieppo, B. Pouran, I.O. Afara, F.M. Serra Braganca, M.H.P. van Rijen, M. Kik, H. Weinans, J. Toyras, P.R. van Weeren, J. Malda

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Since Galileo's days the effect of size on the anatomical characteristics of the structural elements of the body has been a subject of interest. However, the effects of scaling at tissue level have received little interest and virtually no data exist on the subject with respect to the osteochondral unit in the joint, despite this being one of the most lesion-prone and clinically relevant parts of the musculoskeletal system. Imaging techniques, including FTIR imaging, polarized light microscopy and micro computed tomography, were combined to study the response to increasing body mass of the osteochondral unit. We analyzed the effect of scaling on structural characteristics of articular cartilage, subchondral plate and the supporting trabecular bone, across a wide range of mammals at microscopic level. We demonstrated that, while total cartilage thickness scales to body mass in a negative allometric fashion, thickness of different cartilage layers did not. Cartilage tissue layers were found to adapt to increasing loads principally in the deep zone with the superficial layers becoming relatively thinner. While subchondral plate thickness was found to have no correlation to body mass, bone volume fraction correlated negatively to body mass (r = -0.41, p 
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)664-673
    JournalBone
    Volume127
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2019

    Keywords

    • osteochondral unit
    • trabecular bone
    • subchondral bone
    • carilage
    • osteochondral comparative analysis
    • scaling

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Effects of body mass on microstructural features of the osteochondral unit: A comparative analysis of 37 mammalian species'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this