Morphological and mechanical properties of bone tissues

Abstract

Introduction: Adult human skeletal system consists of 206 bones and this system gives the human body its shape, supports it, and helps in movements. These bones are made of living bones tissues which replenish throughout the lifetime of an individual. There are different bone diseases associated to these bone tissues like osteoporosis, low bone density, osteogenesis imperfecta, and Paget’s disease of bones which happen when these bone tissues synthesis is not normal, and can cause fracture. The most common bone disease is osteoporosis which causes bones to become less dense and more fragile. It affects the entire skeletal system and causes fracture in hips, wrists, ankles, and spine commonly.Methodology: CT ScanningThree calcaneus bone samples were scanned using micro CT (SkyScan 1172, Aarteslaar, Belgium) at the voxel size of 17.41 µm, rotating at increments of 0.7˚ for 180˚, and the data was stored in numbered 16bit high resolution grayscale images. Results: The analysis of bone properties has not been limited to mechanical testing only. With the development of computer tomography techniques and finite element modelling software, the researchers have started using simulations to study bone morphology and properties. The previous studies indicate that not much has been done to study the fracture mechanism of calcaneal trabeculae. So, this study was designed to conduct compression test on sections of calcaneal trabeculae and compare it with the available results.Conclusion: The study focuses on the mechanical properties of trabecular bone incompression. The main purpose of the study is investigating the factors which could influence the mechanical properties of the trabecular bone.Summary: The human skeletal system suffers from number of diseases like osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and Paget’s disease which impair its function and cause discomfort and fracture to patients. The study of bone properties have helped in treating a variety of bone diseases. This study involved non-destructive finite element analysis of calcaneal trabecular bone specimens under compressive loading. Three calcaneal trabecular bone specimens were scanned using micro CT and 3D models were reconstructed using the image data. The reconstructed models were assigned material heterogeneous properties based on grayscale values from the images. These models were converted to FE models with a variety of mesh coarseness and analysed, and the best models were used for further finite element analysis. The results were compared with previous studies and matched subject to certain errors. It was concluded that mesh parameters affect the quality of finite element simulation and the heterogeneous bone material properties caused non-uniform deformation in the trabeculae structure.