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Influence of interstitial bone microcracks on strain-induced fluid flow

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Abstract

It is well known that microcracks act as a stimulus for bone remodelling, initiating resorption by osteoclasts and new bone formation by osteoblasts. Moreover, microcracks are likely to alter the fluid flow and convective transport through the bone tissue. This paper proposes a quantitative evaluation of the strain-induced interstitial fluid velocities developing in osteons in presence of a microcrack in the interstitial bone tissue. Based on Biot theory in the low-frequency range, a poroelastic model is carried out to study the hydro-mechanical behaviour of cracked osteonal tissue. The finite element results show that the presence of a microcrack in the interstitial osteonal tissue may drastically reduce the fluid velocity inside the neighbouring osteons. This fluid inactive zone inside osteons can cover up to 10% of their surface. Consequently, the fluid environment of bone mechano-sensitive cells is locally modified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010, Créteil cedex, France

    Vu-Hieu Nguyen, Thibault Lemaire & Salah Naili

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  1. Vu-Hieu Nguyen
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  2. Thibault Lemaire
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  3. Salah Naili
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Correspondence to Vu-Hieu Nguyen.

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Nguyen, VH., Lemaire, T. & Naili, S. Influence of interstitial bone microcracks on strain-induced fluid flow. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 10, 963–972 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-011-0287-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-011-0287-1

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