Biomechanics / Biomechanical Engineering
Mahdieh Mosayebi; Afsaneh Mojra
Volume 13, Issue 1 , April 2019, , Pages 31-44
Abstract
Intervertebral disc (IVD) provides flexibility and shock absorption for the spine in the load transmission procedure. Disc degeneration may occur as a result of aging and inappropriate types of loading. Assessing biomechanical parameters of intact IVD in comparison to the degenerated disc with different ...
Read More
Intervertebral disc (IVD) provides flexibility and shock absorption for the spine in the load transmission procedure. Disc degeneration may occur as a result of aging and inappropriate types of loading. Assessing biomechanical parameters of intact IVD in comparison to the degenerated disc with different grades of degeneration can facilitate the detection procedure and planning for suitable therapeutic treatment. In the present study, a real three-dimensional model of cercival IVD ( - with adjacent vertebrae is constructed by using computed tomography (CT-scan) images. In order to accurately define mechanical properties, the disc and the vertebrae are modelled as poroviscoelastic and poroelastic materials, respectively. A porous medium approach is adopted to consider the considerable water content of both media alongside the solid matrix. For the solid phase of the IVD, the related viscoelastic parameters are extracted from an experimental test on a sheep lumbar intervertebral disc and stress vs. time data are fitted to the generalized Maxwell model with two Maxwell arms. By employing the finite element method, time-dependent response of the intact IVD and three different levels of the degenerated IVD (mild, moderate and severe) are studied in a relaxation test. Results indicate that during relaxation procedure, intradiscal fluid velocity decreases as a result of disc degeneration. This may oppositely affect the flexibility of IVD in the load bearing. It is also observed that stress relaxation of the severe degenerated IVD almost increases up to 16% relative to the intact IVD. Assessing the amount of disc bulging under load application shows enhancement for the degenerated disc compared to the intact disc.
Spinal Biomechanics
Mohammad Nikkhoo; Sajjad Najafzadeh; Romina Kargar
Volume 9, Issue 4 , February 2015, , Pages 317-326
Abstract
Understanding the mechanism of artificial disc degeneration using animal models is useful to study the regenerative techniques in hope of finding potential therapeutic strategies. For any type of potential therapeutic techniques, first we need to have the degenerated model. Disc degeneration ...
Read More
Understanding the mechanism of artificial disc degeneration using animal models is useful to study the regenerative techniques in hope of finding potential therapeutic strategies. For any type of potential therapeutic techniques, first we need to have the degenerated model. Disc degeneration can be mimicked in animal studies using needle puncture. However, the detailed mechanical response of the artificial degenerated disc using needle puncture under physiological diurnal activities has not been analyzed well.Hence, reverse finite element analyses combined with in-vitro experiments were used in this study to find the mechanical properties of intact (N=8) and injured discs using needle puncture (N=8). Afterward, specimen-specific FE models for 16 discs were simulated during physiological diurnal activity. The results showed that the variation of axial displacement, intradiscal pressure, and total fluid exchangein intact discs were significantly higher than the injured ones after 24h. But the maximum axial stress within disc was significantly higher in injured group. The achieved results are correlated with previous human cadaver data for natural disc degeneration. Therefore, it is concluded that the G-16needle puncture injury is a simple and cost-effective methodology which can be used to mimic the degeneration mechanism in animal models.
Biomechanics of Bone / Bone Biomechanics
Mohammad Nikkhoo; Mohammad Haghpanahi; J. L. Wang; Mohammad Parnianpour
Volume 5, Issue 1 , June 2011, , Pages 21-32
Abstract
Prediction of the relationship between different types of mechanical loading and the failure of the intervertebral disc is so important to identify the risk factors which are difficult to study in vivo and in vitro. On the basis of finite element methods some of these issues may be overcome ...
Read More
Prediction of the relationship between different types of mechanical loading and the failure of the intervertebral disc is so important to identify the risk factors which are difficult to study in vivo and in vitro. On the basis of finite element methods some of these issues may be overcome enabling more detailed assessment of the biomechanical behavior of the intervertebral disc. The objective of this paper is to develop a nonlinear axisymmetric poroelastic finite element model of lumbar motion segment and show its capability for studying the time-dependent response of disc. After comparison of the response of different models in quasi-static analysis, the poroelastic model of intervertebral disc is presented and the results of short-term, long-term creep tests and cyclic loading were investigated. The results of the poroelastic model are in agreement with experimental ones reported in the literature. Hence, this model can be used to study how different dynamic loading regimes are important as risk factors for initiation of intervertebral disc degeneration.
Cardiovascular Biomechanics
Hamed Khalesi; Hanie Niroomand Oscuii; Farzan Ghalichi
Volume 5, Issue 2 , June 2011, , Pages 143-149
Abstract
Prediction of the relationship between different types of mechanical loading and the failure of the intervertebral disc is so important to identify the risk factors which are difficult to study in vivo and in vitro. On the basis of finite element methods some of these issues may be overcome enabling ...
Read More
Prediction of the relationship between different types of mechanical loading and the failure of the intervertebral disc is so important to identify the risk factors which are difficult to study in vivo and in vitro. On the basis of finite element methods some of these issues may be overcome enabling more detailed assessment of the biomechanical behavior of the intervertebral disc. The objective of this paper is to develop a nonlinear axisymmetric poroelastic finite element model of lumbar motion segment and show its capability for studying the time-dependent response of disc. After comparison of the response of different models in quasi-static analysis, the poroelastic model of intervertebral disc is presented and the results of short-term, long-term creep tests and cyclic loading were investigated. The results of the poroelastic model are in agreement with experimental ones reported in the literature. Hence, this model can be used to study how different dynamic loading regimes are important as risk factors for initiation of intervertebral disc degeneration.
Spinal Biomechanics
Mehran Kasra
Volume 3, Issue 4 , June 2009, , Pages 285-290
Abstract
The influence of compression on intervertebral disc cells has been examined in a number of previous studies. However, in most of these studies hydrostatic pressure was used at low levels, and few studies reported the effects of high pressures within a large range of frequencies on intervertebral disc ...
Read More
The influence of compression on intervertebral disc cells has been examined in a number of previous studies. However, in most of these studies hydrostatic pressure was used at low levels, and few studies reported the effects of high pressures within a large range of frequencies on intervertebral disc cells response. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that frequency dependent hydrostatic pressure stimulates collagen synthesis in the intervertebral disc cells to a certain level. Hydrostatic pressure was applied to the intervertebral disc cells in a monolayer culture using a custom-made piston chamber pressure vessel. Briefly, cells were harvested from the intervertebral discs in the lumbar region of a pig, plated, and grown to confluence in culture flasks; they were then trypsinized and re-attached to 35mm culture dishes. With cyclic, hydrostatic loading, the cells were exposed to varied pressures and frequencies for 20 minutes a day for 3 and 7 days (the controls received no loading). The intracellular collagen was labeled with 3[H]-proline after loading on days 2 and 6. Following treatments on days 3 and 7, both the media and cells were frozen separately. Scintillation counting determined the amount of collagen incorporated in the cells and released into the media; these values were normalized by DNA. In this culture system, the results indicated significant differences (P<0.05) in cell response at different loading conditions. Compared to the control group there was a significant decrease in released collagen at high loading amplitude and low frequency (5MPa, 1Hz) which increased significantly at high loading frequencies (5MPa, 15Hz) indicating anabolic response at high pressures which became catabolic at high frequencies.
Tissue Engineering
Mohammad Haghpanahi; Mohammad Nikkhoo; Habibollah Peirovi
Volume 2, Issue 1 , June 2008, , Pages 47-56
Abstract
According to mechanobilogical studies as an infrastructure for tissue engineering researches, this paper presents a triphasic finite element modeling of intervertebral discs such a hydrated porous soft tissue. First, the governmental equations were derived on the basis of the laws of continuum mechanics. ...
Read More
According to mechanobilogical studies as an infrastructure for tissue engineering researches, this paper presents a triphasic finite element modeling of intervertebral discs such a hydrated porous soft tissue. First, the governmental equations were derived on the basis of the laws of continuum mechanics. Then the standard Galerkin weighted residual method was used to form the finite element model. The implicit time integration schemes were applied to solve the nonlinear equations. The formulation accuracy and convergence for one dimensional case were examined with Simon's and Sun's analytical solutions and also Drost's experimental Data. It was shown that the mathematical model is in excellent agreement and has the capability to simulate the intervertebral disc response under different types of mechanical and electrochemical loading conditions. Finally, to have a short review of the capability of the model, a homogenous two dimensional version of the model was applied to simulate the response of a simple sagittal slice of the intervertebral disc.
