Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
School of Physics, Mathematics and Computing, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2023;1402:83-93. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-25588-5_6.
Over several decades the perception and therefore description of articular cartilage changed substantially. It has transitioned from being described as a relatively inert tissue with limited repair capacity, to a tissue undergoing continuous maintenance and even adaption, through a range of complex regulatory processes. Even from the narrower lens of biomechanics, the engagement with articular cartilage has changed from it being an interesting, slippery material found in the hostile mechanical environment between opposing long bones, to an intriguing example of mechanobiology in action. The progress revealing this complexity, where physics, chemistry, material science and biology are merging, has been described with increasingly sophisticated computational models. Here we describe how these computational models of cartilage as an integrated system can be combined with the approach of structural reliability analysis. That is, causal, deterministic models placed in the framework of the probabilistic approach of structural reliability analysis could be used to understand, predict, and mitigate the risk of cartilage failure or pathology. At the heart of this approach is seeing cartilage overuse and disease processes as a 'material failure', resulting in failure to perform its function, which is largely mechanical. One can then describe pathways to failure, for example, how homeostatic repair processes can be overwhelmed leading to a compromised tissue. To illustrate this 'pathways to failure' approach, we use the interplay between cartilage consolidation and lubrication to analyse the increase in expected wear rates associated with cartilage defects or meniscectomy.
几十年来，关节软骨的认知和描述发生了很大变化。它已经从一种被描述为具有有限修复能力的相对惰性组织，转变为通过一系列复杂的调节过程不断进行维护甚至适应的组织。即使从更狭义的生物力学角度来看，关节软骨的研究也已经从一种有趣的、在相互对抗的长骨之间的恶劣机械环境中发现的滑溜材料，转变为机械生物学作用的一个有趣例子。揭示这种复杂性的进展表明，物理学、化学、材料科学和生物学正在融合，这一进展已经通过越来越复杂的计算模型来描述。在这里，我们描述了如何将作为一个整体系统的软骨的这些计算模型与结构可靠性分析的方法相结合。也就是说，可以将因果确定性模型置于结构可靠性分析的概率方法框架内，用于理解、预测和减轻软骨失效或病变的风险。这种方法的核心是将软骨过度使用和疾病过程视为一种“材料失效”，导致其无法发挥其主要是机械功能。然后，可以描述失效途径，例如，稳态修复过程如何被压倒，导致组织受损。为了说明这种“失效途径”方法，我们利用软骨整合和润滑之间的相互作用来分析与软骨缺陷或半月板切除术相关的预期磨损率的增加。
