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Computational characterization of fracture healing under reduced gravity loading conditions
Author(s) -
Gadomski Benjamin C.,
Lerner Zachary F.,
Browning Raymond C.,
Easley Jeremiah T.,
Palmer Ross H.,
Puttlitz Christian M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1002/jor.23143
Subject(s) - endochondral ossification , intramembranous ossification , bone healing , hydrostatic pressure , ossification , hydrostatic equilibrium , fracture (geology) , biomechanics , materials science , biomedical engineering , medicine , cartilage , composite material , surgery , anatomy , mechanics , physics , quantum mechanics
The literature is deficient with regard to how the localized mechanical environment of skeletal tissue is altered during reduced gravitational loading and how these alterations affect fracture healing. Thus, a finite element model of the ovine hindlimb was created to characterize the local mechanical environment responsible for the inhibited fracture healing observed under experimental simulated hypogravity conditions. Following convergence and verification studies, hydrostatic pressure and strain within a diaphyseal fracture of the metatarsus were evaluated for models under both 1 and 0.25 g loading environments and compared to results of a related in vivo study. Results of the study suggest that reductions in hydrostatic pressure and strain of the healing fracture for animals exposed to reduced gravitational loading conditions contributed to an inhibited healing process, with animals exposed to the simulated hypogravity environment subsequently initiating an intramembranous bone formation process rather than the typical endochondral ossification healing process experienced by animals healing in a 1 g gravitational environment. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1206–1215, 2016.