Micromechanical characterisation of osteoarthritic subchondral bone by micropillar compression

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: McPhee, Samuel, Fernández, Marta Peña, Koria, Lekha, Mengoni, Marlène, Beck, Rainer J, Shephard, Jonathan D, Brockett, Claire, Wolfram, Uwe
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author McPhee, Samuel
Fernández, Marta Peña
Koria, Lekha
Mengoni, Marlène
Beck, Rainer J
Shephard, Jonathan D
Brockett, Claire
Wolfram, Uwe
author_facet McPhee, Samuel
Fernández, Marta Peña
Koria, Lekha
Mengoni, Marlène
Beck, Rainer J
Shephard, Jonathan D
Brockett, Claire
Wolfram, Uwe
contents Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifaceted joint disease which poses significant socioeconomic burdens and remains a significant clinical challenge. Evidence suggests that structural and mechanical changes in subchondral bone influence the pathogenesis and development of OA, leading to diminished bone quality and cartilage degeneration. While changes in microstructure and tissue scale elastic properties are well reported, the tissue yield response of subchondral bone in OA and their correlation with compositional changes have not been investigated. Here, we performed quasistatic micropillar compression and nanoindentation within the subchondral bone plate and trabeculae of hydrated non-diseased (ND) and OA affected specimens retrieved from the distal tibia in vivo. The micropillars, extracted by laser ablation, exhibited a taper angle which mandated the use of an in silico micropillar compression routine to back-calculate elastic modulus and strength of the bone tissue that comprised each micropillar. Elastic modulus remained unchanged between ND and OA subchondral bone, whereas strength increased from 46.0 MPa to 57.3 MPa in OA subchondral trabecular bone but not in the bone plate. Micropillar matched Raman spectroscopy and quantitative backscattered electron imaging revealed mineralisation is the underlying determinant of elastic modulus and strength at the microscale. By combining micromechanical and tissue compositional analyses, we investigated how the mechanical properties are related and how these properties are affected in subchondral bone by OA. Our results may be of value in the development and optimisation of interventions used to alleviate the socioeconomic burdens associated with this debilitating joint disease.
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Micromechanical characterisation of osteoarthritic subchondral bone by micropillar compression
McPhee, Samuel
Fernández, Marta Peña
Koria, Lekha
Mengoni, Marlène
Beck, Rainer J
Shephard, Jonathan D
Brockett, Claire
Wolfram, Uwe
Medical Physics
Materials Science
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifaceted joint disease which poses significant socioeconomic burdens and remains a significant clinical challenge. Evidence suggests that structural and mechanical changes in subchondral bone influence the pathogenesis and development of OA, leading to diminished bone quality and cartilage degeneration. While changes in microstructure and tissue scale elastic properties are well reported, the tissue yield response of subchondral bone in OA and their correlation with compositional changes have not been investigated. Here, we performed quasistatic micropillar compression and nanoindentation within the subchondral bone plate and trabeculae of hydrated non-diseased (ND) and OA affected specimens retrieved from the distal tibia in vivo. The micropillars, extracted by laser ablation, exhibited a taper angle which mandated the use of an in silico micropillar compression routine to back-calculate elastic modulus and strength of the bone tissue that comprised each micropillar. Elastic modulus remained unchanged between ND and OA subchondral bone, whereas strength increased from 46.0 MPa to 57.3 MPa in OA subchondral trabecular bone but not in the bone plate. Micropillar matched Raman spectroscopy and quantitative backscattered electron imaging revealed mineralisation is the underlying determinant of elastic modulus and strength at the microscale. By combining micromechanical and tissue compositional analyses, we investigated how the mechanical properties are related and how these properties are affected in subchondral bone by OA. Our results may be of value in the development and optimisation of interventions used to alleviate the socioeconomic burdens associated with this debilitating joint disease.
title Micromechanical characterisation of osteoarthritic subchondral bone by micropillar compression
topic Medical Physics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17824