Tortorici Martina, Petersen Ansgar, Ehrhart Klara, Duda Georg N, Checa Sara
Julius Wolff Institute, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Berlin-Branderburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Feb 15;9:642217. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.642217. eCollection 2021.
Osteochondral defects in joints require surgical intervention to relieve pain and restore function. However, no current treatment enables a complete reconstitution of the articular surface. It is known that both mechanical and biological factors play a key role on osteochondral defect healing, however the underlying principles and how they can be used in the design of treatment strategies remain largely unknown. To unravel the underlying principles of mechanobiology in osteochondral defect healing, i.e., how mechanical stimuli can guide biological tissue formation, we employed a computational approach investigating the scaffold-associated mechanical and architectural properties that would enable a guided defect healing. A previous computer model of the knee joint was further developed to simulate healing of an empty osteochondral defect. Then, scaffolds were implanted in the defect and their architectures and material properties were systematically varied to identify their relevance in osteochondral defect healing. Scaffold mechanical and architectural properties were capable of influencing osteochondral defect healing. Specifically, scaffold material elastic modulus values in the range of cancellous bone (low GPa range) and a scaffold architecture that provided stability, i.e., resistance against displacement, in both the main loading direction and perpendicular to it supported the repair process. The here presented model, despite its simplifications, is regarded as a powerful tool to screen for promising properties of novel scaffold candidates fostering osteochondral defect regeneration prior to their implementation .
关节中的骨软骨缺损需要手术干预来缓解疼痛并恢复功能。然而，目前尚无治疗方法能够完全重建关节表面。众所周知，机械因素和生物因素在骨软骨缺损愈合中都起着关键作用，然而其潜在原理以及如何将它们应用于治疗策略的设计在很大程度上仍然未知。为了阐明骨软骨缺损愈合中机械生物学的潜在原理，即机械刺激如何引导生物组织形成，我们采用了一种计算方法来研究能够实现引导性缺损愈合的支架相关机械和结构特性。之前的膝关节计算机模型得到进一步开发，以模拟空骨软骨缺损的愈合过程。然后，将支架植入缺损处，并系统地改变其结构和材料特性，以确定它们在骨软骨缺损愈合中的相关性。支架的机械和结构特性能够影响骨软骨缺损的愈合。具体而言，松质骨范围内（低吉帕范围）的支架材料弹性模量值以及在主要加载方向及其垂直方向上都能提供稳定性（即抗位移能力）的支架结构支持修复过程。尽管本文所提出的模型存在简化之处，但仍被视为一种强大的工具，可用于在新型支架候选物应用之前筛选出有助于骨软骨缺损再生的有前景的特性。
