Computer-modeling of oxygen supply to cartilage: addition of a compartmental model.

Abstract

Our previous studies have focussed on the architecture of the avian growth plate and the oxygen consumption of growth plate chondrocytes in order to develop an appropriate computer model for estimating chondrocyte anoxia (Haselgrove et al., 1993). Initially, we used two models: the Krogh cylinder (Silverton et al., 1989), and a second model with similar geometry utilizing a complex oxygen consumption as a function of oxygen concentration (Silverton et al., 1990). For this purpose, we divided the growth plate into two anatomical regions; the region of resting-proliferating chondrocytes and the region of hypertrophic chondrocytes. We modeled the two growth plate regions separately and ignored the transition zone. We also used a two dimensional analysis assuming that the major flow of oxygen was radial rather than axial. To extend our model, we have now used a compartmental model originally developed for modeling the oxygen and carbon dioxide distribution in the microvasculature of the brain (Ye et al., 1993). With this model we have been able to evaluate the contribution of the microvacular structure to oxygen supply of the resting and hypertrophic regions of the growth cartilage and to estimate oxygen and carbon dioxide partial pressure variations in the growth plate.