A comparative study of the midfoot structure of humans and mice by CT measurement: Implications for employing a mouse model to study Lisfranc injury

Abstract

Although midfoot injury, especially Lisfranc sprain, is a relative rare traumatic pathology, if overlooked or treated incorrectly, the damage will develop into chronic Lisfranc injury, which is characterized by lifelong residual symptoms. The differences in injury severity, healing rates, treatment plans, and patient adherence make prospective investigations of the pathogenesis of Lisfranc injury very difficult to conduct. The development of an animal model that mimics the symptoms of humans with chronic Lisfranc injury has the potential to lessen the challenges associated with prospective human research. Previous research has successfully used a mouse model to explore the biomechanics of the human ankle joint. However, it remains to be determined if the mouse model can mimic human midfoot functions based on their similarities in anatomical structure. In this study, the anatomical structure of the mouse and human midfoot were compared by CT scan. The animal image data were obtained from 10 male C57BL/6J mice (20 feet) by micro-CT. The human data were obtained from six volunteers (six feet) by CT scanning. The three-dimensional skeletal structure of the midfoot was reconstructed, and the morphological parameters were measured by a plane projection method. There were no significant differences among the hindfoot adductus angle (mice: 28.86 ​± ​6.27°; human: 25.45 ​± ​2.70°), metatarsus adductus angle (mice: 11.34 ​± ​2.95°; human: 11.48 ​± ​3.97°), or the transverse arch angle (mice: 111.77 ​± ​4.70°; human: 111.84 ​± ​6.34°) between the mice and humans. The mice had a comparable Lisfranc joint complex architecture compared to humans in both coronal and transverse planes. The lateral cuneiform was fused with the navicular bone in mice, which would provide better intrinsic stability than in humans. Future research is necessary to evaluate the mouse midfoot injury model and the similarities of their neuro-musculo-skletal systems with humans.