Numerical simulation on the adaptation of forms in trabecular bone to mechanical disuse and basic multi-cellular unit activation threshold at menopause

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify the effects of mechanical disuse and basic multi-cellular unit (BMU) activation threshold on the form of trabecular bone during menopause. A bone adaptation model with mechanical- biological factors at BMU level was integrated with finite element analysis to simulate the changes of trabecular bone structure during menopause. Mechanical disuse and changes in the BMU activation threshold were applied to the model for the period from 4 years before to 4 years after menopause. The changes in bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness and fractal dimension of the trabecular structures were used to quantify the changes of trabecular bone in three different cases associated with mechanical disuse and BMU activation threshold. It was found that the changes in the simulated bone volume fraction were highly correlated and consistent with clinical data, and that the trabecular thickness reduced significantly during menopause and was highly linearly correlated with the bone volume fraction, and that the change trend of fractal dimension of the simulated trabecular structure was in correspondence with clinical observations. The numerical simulation in this paper may help to better understand the relationship between the bone morphology and the mechanical, as well as biological environment; and can provide a quantitative computational model and methodology for the numerical simulation of the bone structural morphological changes caused by the mechanical environment, and/or the biological environment.