Optimal Mechanical Conditions Research Articles

Initial mechanical conditions within an optimized bone scaffold do not ensure bone regeneration \u2013 an in silico analysis

Large bone defects remain a clinical challenge because they do not heal spontaneously. 3-D printed scaffolds are a promising treatment option for such critical defects. Recent scaffold design strategies have made use of computer modelling techniques to optimize scaffold design. In particular, scaffold geometries have been optimized to avoid mechanical failure and recently also to provide a distinct mechanical stimulation to cells within the scaffold pores. This way, mechanical strain levels are optimized to favour the bone tissue formation. However, bone regeneration is a highly dynamic process where the mechanical conditions immediately after surgery might not ensure optimal regeneration throughout healing. Here, we investigated in silico whether scaffolds presenting optimal mechanical conditions for bone regeneration immediately after surgery also present an optimal design for the full regeneration process. A computer framework, combining an automatic parametric scaffold design generation with a mechano-biological bone regeneration model, was developed to predict the level of regenerated bone volume for a large range of scaffold designs and to compare it with the scaffold pore volume fraction under favourable mechanical stimuli immediately after surgery. We found that many scaffold designs could be considered as highly beneficial for bone healing immediately after surgery; however, most of them did not show optimal bone formation in later regenerative phases. This study allowed to gain a more thorough understanding of the effect of scaffold geometry changes on bone regeneration and how to maximize regenerated bone volume in the long term.

Quantitative Evaluation of Mechanical Stimulation for Tissue-Engineered Blood Vessels.

Functional small-diameter tissue-engineered blood vessels (TEBVs) have been developed in silico using biodegradable polymeric scaffolds under pulsatile perfusion. Accurate simulation of physiological mechanical stimulations in vitro is a crucial factor in vascular engineering. However, little is known about the patterns of mechanical stimulation on silicone tubes. This study aimed to determine the optimal mechanical conditions required for inducing circumferential deformations in silicone tubes during in vitro vascular development under pulsatile perfusion. For this purpose, we established a data acquisition (DAQ) system with a laser micrometer and pressure transducers to evaluate changes in the diameter of silicone tubes in response to pulsatile flow and validated the results on cultured TEBVs. The established DAQ system showed satisfactory reproducibility for measuring diameter variation in the in silico model. Furthermore, the hardness and thickness of the silicone tubes affected the mechanical conditioning in the three-dimensional culture system under different working pressures, frequencies, and circumferential deformations. We demonstrated a simple and reliable approach to quantify the circumferential strain and deformations to ensure optimal mechanical stimulation of the cultured TEBVs under pulsatile perfusion. Based on the results, we were able to dynamically culture dense cellularized small-diameter TEBVs. This study highlights the importance of mechanical stimulation in vascular tissue engineering. Impact statement This study demonstrated a direct and noncontact data acquisition system for quantifying the strain on the supporting silicone medium during three-dimensional tissue-engineered blood vessel culture, which can help optimize the mechanical parameters for vascular tissue engineering.

Effect of Molding Pressure on Structure and Properties of Ring-Shaped Bonded NdFeB Magnet

Ring-shaped polymer-bonded magnets (RSMs) were produced from a mixture of an isotropic NdFeB powder, steel use stainless (SUS) powder, and epoxy resins as binders, using a comprehension-molding technique. Morphology of RSM determined by an SEM indicated that inappropriate molding pressure leads surface defect and brings adverse impact on properties of magnets. The research on mechanical properties shows that the maximum tensile strength of 11.4 N was achieved at optimal pressing pressure of 85 kN. Meanwhile, RSM has excellent stability as the critical component of motor and its amount of unbalance is as low as 0.754 mg. Magnetic property in optimal mechanical conditions was also found to be optimum at H <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">cj</sub> = 8.42 kA/m and (BH) <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> = 31.17 kJ/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> .

A probabilistic-based approach for computational simulation of bone fracture healing

Background and objectiveIt is widely known that bone fracture healing is affected by mechanical factors such as fracture geometry, fixation configuration and post-operative weight bearing loading. However, there are several uncertainties associated with the magnitude of the mechanical factors affecting bone healing as it is challenging to adjust and control them in clinical practice. The current bone fracture healing investigations mainly adopt a deterministic approach for identifying the optimal mechanical conditions for a favourable bone healing outcome. However, a probabilistic approach should be used in the analysis to incorporate such uncertainties for prediction of bone healing. MethodsIn this study we developed a probabilistic-based computational model to predict the probability of delayed healing or non-union under different fracture treatment mechanical conditions for fractures stabilised by locking plates. ResultsThe results show that there is a strong positive linear correlation between the mechanical stimulations (S) in the fracture gap and the magnitude of weight bearing, the bone-plate distance (BPD) and the plate working length (WL), whereas the fracture gap size has a highly negative and nonlinear correlation with S. While the results show that fracture mechanical microenvironment is more sensitive to the uncertainties in WL compared to BPD, the uncertainty associated with the magnitude of WL is very low and can be resulted from implant manufacturing tolerance. However, there is a high uncertainty associated with the magnitude of BPD as it cannot be accurately adjusted during the surgery. The results show that the tissue differentiation at the far cortex of fracture gap is more sensitive to the variation of BPD compared with that at the near cortex. The probability of delayed healing (fibrous tissue formation) at far cortex is increased from 0% to 40% when coefficient of variation (COV) of BPD rises from 0.1 to 0.9 (for average BPD = 2 mm, WL = 65 mm, fracture gap size = 3 mm and Weight bearing = 150 N). Further, both near and far cortex of fracture site are sensitive to the variation in weight bearing loading. ConclusionsThe developed probabilistic model may lead to useful guidelines that could help orthopaedic surgeons identify how reliable a specific fracture treatment strategy is.

Fracture Strength and Surface Magnetic Flux Uniformity in an Isotropic Polymer-Bonded Ring-Shaped Nd-Fe-B Magnet

Ring-shaped (RS) polymer-bonded magnets were produced from a mixture of an isotropic nanocrystalline Nd-Fe-B powder with a nominal composition of 59.8 wt.% Fe, 29 wt.% Nd, 5 wt.% Zr, 4.8 wt.% Co and 1.4 wt.% B and a variety of epoxy resins as binders, using a compaction-molding technique. The morphology and average particle size of the powders are determined by an SEM. The magnetic properties of the magnets were measured using a permeameter. Magnetic flux on the surface of the magnets was determined by a Gauss meter. The mechanical properties of the RS specimens were determined using a tensile fracture strength (FS) test. The effects of polymer type and amount, hardener amount, applied pressing pressure and curing temperature and time on FS were investigated. The experimental results showed that at optimal conditions of 8 wt.% solid epoxy, 3.5 wt.% solid hardener, a pressing pressure of 900 MPa and a curing time of 8 h at 170 °C, a maximum tensile strength of ~ 36 MPa was achieved. Surface magnetic flux uniformity in optimal mechanical conditions was also found to be optimum at around ± 40 G, which is one of the best flux uniformities in bonded magnets.

A single short session of media perfusion induces osteogenesis in hBMSCs cultured in porous scaffolds, dependent on cell differentiation stage

Perfusing culture media through porous cell-seeded scaffolds is now a common approach within many tissue engineering strategies. Human bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC) are a clinically valuable source of osteoprogenitors that respond to mechanical stimuli. However, the optimal mechanical conditions for their osteogenic stimulation in vitro have not been defined. Whereas the effects of short durations of media fluid flow have been studied in monolayers of osteoblastic cells, in 3D culture continuous or repeated perfusion is usually applied. Here, we investigated whether a short, single perfusion session applied to hBMSCs cultured in 3D would enhance their osteogenesis in vitro. We cultured hBMSCs on gelatine-coated, porous polyurethane scaffolds with osteogenic supplements and stimulated them with a single 2-h session of unidirectional, steady, 2.5 mL/min media perfusion, at either early or late stages of culture in 3D. Some cells were pre-treated in monolayer with osteogenic supplements to advance cell differentiation, followed by 3D culture also with the osteogenic supplements. We report that this single, short session of media perfusion can markedly enhance the expression of bone-related transcription and growth factors, and matrix components, by hBMSCs but that it is more effective when cells reach the pre-osteoblast or osteoblast differentiation stage. These findings could aid in the optimization of 3D culture protocols for efficient bone tissue engineering. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 1814-1824. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

FSI Modeling Approach to Develop Right Ventricle Pulmonary Valve Replacement Surgical Procedures with a Contracting Actuator and Improve Ventricle Ejection Fraction

Image-based computational modeling has been used more and more for cardiovascular disease management and surgical planning in recent years. Computational modeling could perform virtual surgery with different surgical options avoiding risks associated with actual surgical experimentation on patients. For patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) needing right ventricle (RV) pulmonary valve replacement (PVR), the current surgical approach, which includes pulmonary valve replacement/ insertion, has yielded mixed results. In this paper, we propose a new surgical option placing a contracting actuator in the right ventricle to improve RV function measured by ejection fraction (EF). An interdisciplinary approach is proposed to combine cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, modeling, and mechanical engineering techniques to construct the mechanical actuator, build the ventricle models, perform virtual surgery, demonstrate feasibility of the new surgical procedure with actuator insertion, and identify optimal mechanical conditions under which optimal surgical outcome could be achieved.

Ingénierie tissulaire autologue par distraction ostéogénique : considérations biomécaniques

Tissue engineering consists in producing functional replacement tissue. Distraction osteogenesis is a tissue engineering technique that uses the mechanical environment of cells to induce tissue regeneration, without need for exogenous biochemical factors. A better understanding of the optimal mechanical conditions of distraction callus stretching may reduce the duration, discomfort, and even social impact of distraction protocols, and complications and failures. We present the current state of knowledge in this field by addressing the fundamentals of elongating bone tissue biomechanics, the influence of rhythm and rate of distraction, and that of vectors and stability. Finally, we present the innovations currently studied, which may modify our clinical protocol in the short term.

Spectral-domain phase microscopy with improved sensitivity using two-dimensional detector arrays

In this work we demonstrate the use of two-dimensional detectors to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sensitivity in spectral-domain phase microscopy for subnanometer accuracy measurements. We show that an increase in SNR can be obtained, from 82 dB to 105 dB, using 150 pixel lines of a low-cost CCD camera as compared to a single line, to compute an averaged axial scan. In optimal mechanical conditions, phase stability as small as 92 μrad, corresponding to 6 pm displacement accuracy, could be obtained. We also experimentally demonstrate the benefit of spatial-averaging in terms of the reduction of signal fading due to an axially moving sample. The applications of the improved system are illustrated by imaging live cells in culture.

Tomographic P wave velocity and vertical velocity gradient structure across the geothermal site Groß Schönebeck (NE German Basin): Relationship to lithology, salt tectonics, and thermal regime

Seismic wide‐angle data were collected along a 40‐km‐long profile centered at the geothermal research well GrSk 3/90 in the Northeast German Basin. Tomographic inversion of travel time data provided a velocity and a vertical velocity gradient model, indicative of Cenozoic to Pre‐Permian sediments. Wide‐angle reflections are modeled and interpreted as top Zechstein and top Pre‐Permian. Changes in velocity gradients are interpreted as the transition from mechanical to chemical compaction at 2–3 km depth, and localized salt structures are imaged, suggesting a previously unknown salt pillow in the southern part of the seismic profile. The Zechstein salt shows decreased velocities in the adjacent salt pillows compared to the salt lows, which is confirmed by sonic log data. This decrease in velocity could be explained by the mobilization of less dense salt, which moved and formed the salt pillows, whereas the denser salt remained in place at the salt lows. We interpret a narrow subvertical low‐velocity zone under the salt pillow at GrSk 3/90 as a fault in the deep Permian to Pre‐Permian. This WNW‐ESE trending fault influenced the location of the salt tectonics and led to the formation of a fault‐bounded graben in the Rotliegend sandstones with optimal mechanical conditions for geothermal production. Thermal modeling showed that salt pillows are related to chimney effects, a decrease in temperature, and increasing velocity. The assumed variations in salt lithology, density, and strain must thus be even higher to compensate for the temperature effect.