Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology最新文献

This study aims to explore the mechanical behaviour of polymeric gyroid structures under compression within the context of orthotic insoles, focussing on custom optimisation for lower peak plantar pressures. This research evaluates the compressive response of gyroid structures using a combination of experimental testing and numerical modelling. Stereolithography was used to manufacture gyroid samples for experimental tests, and explicit finite element analysis was used to model the gyroid's response numerically. Hyperfoam, first-order polynomial, and second-order polynomial hyperelastic constitutive models were considered to homogenise the mechanical response of the structure. The homogenised properties of the structure were then implemented in an optimisation algorithm to obtain the optimal gyroid structure for a given subject by minimising the standard distribution of plantar pressures. Findings indicate that the compressive response polymeric gyroid structures can be represented with a homogeneous material. The hyperfoam model was chosen due to its accuracy and interpolation quality. The optimisation process successfully identified configurations that maximise the mechanical advantages of gyroid lattices, demonstrating significant improvements in plantar pressure distributions. The optimised insole showed a 30% reduction in the standard deviation of the plantar pressure and a 10% reduction in the peak stress. The optimisation method reduced peak pressures by 12.2 kPa compared to a traditional medium-density Poron orthotic insole, and 94.3 kPa compared barefoot conditions. The mechanical response of gyroid structures has successfully been modelled, analysed and homogenised. The study concludes that custom gyroid-based orthotic insoles offer a promising solution for personalised foot care.

Research interest in the dynamics of respiratory flow and mucus has significantly increased in recent years with important contributions from various disciplines such as pulmonary and critical care medicine, surgery, physiology, environmental health sciences, biophysics, and engineering. Different areas of engineering, including mechanical, chemical, civil/environmental, aerospace, and biomedical engineering, have longstanding connections with respiratory research. This review draws on a wide range of scientific literature that reflects the diverse audience and interests in respiratory science. Its focus is on mucus dynamics in the respiratory airways, covering aspects such as mucins in fluidity and network formation, mucus production and function, response to external conditions, clearance methods, relationship with age, rheological properties, mucus surfactant, and mucoviscidosis. Each of these areas contains multiple subtopics that offer extensive depth and breadth for readers. We underscore the crucial importance of regulating and treating mucus for maintaining the health and functionality of the respiratory system, highlighting the ongoing need for further research to address respiratory disorders associated with mucus dynamics.

Secondary ossification and maintenance of the growth plate are crucial aspects of long bone formation. Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has been implicated as a key factor in maintaining the growth plate, and studies suggest that PTHrP expression in the resting zone is closely related with formation of the secondary ossification center (SOC). However, details of the relationship between resting zone PTHrP expression and preservation of the growth plate remain unclear. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of resting zone PTHrP expression on maintenance of the growth plate using a computational method. We extend an existing continuum-based particle model of tissue morphogenesis to include PTHrP and Indian hedgehog (Ihh) signaling, allowing the model to capture biochemical and mechanical regulation of individual cell activities. Our model indicates that the timing of resting zone PTHrP expression-specifically the rate of increase in production at the onset of SOC formation-is potentially a crucial mechanism for maintenance of the growth plate.

Sophisticated high-fidelity simulations can predict bone mass density (BMD) changes around a hip implant after implantation. However, these models currently have high computational demands, rendering them impractical for clinical settings. Model order reduction techniques offer a remedy by enabling fast evaluations. In this work, a non-intrusive reduced-order model, combining proper orthogonal decomposition with radial basis function interpolation (POD-RBF), is established to predict BMD distributions for varying implant positions. A parameterised finite element mesh is morphed using Laplace's equation, which eliminates tedious remeshing and projection of the BMD results on a common mesh in the offline stage. In the online stage, the surrogate model can predict BMD distributions for new implant positions and the results are visualised on the parameterised reference mesh. The computational time for evaluating the final BMD distribution around a new implant position is reduced from minutes to milliseconds by the surrogate model compared to the high-fidelity model. The snapshot data, the surrogate model parameters and the accuracy of the surrogate model are analysed. The presented non-intrusive surrogate model paves the way for on-the-fly evaluations in clinical practice, offering a promising tool for planning and monitoring of total hip replacements.

Plaque erosion (PE) with secondary thrombosis is one of the key mechanisms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) which often leads to drastic cardiovascular events. Identification and prediction of PE are of fundamental significance for disease diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In vivo optical coherence tomography (OCT) data of eight eroded plaques and eight non-eroded plaques were acquired to construct three-dimensional fluid-structure interaction models and obtain plaque biomechanical conditions for investigation. Plaque stenosis severity, plaque burden, plaque wall stress (PWS) and strain (PWSn), flow shear stress (FSS), and ΔFSS (FSS variation in time) were extracted for comparison and prediction. A logistic regression model was used to predict plaque erosion. Our results indicated that the combination of mean PWS and mean ΔFSS gave best prediction (AUC = 0.866, 90% confidence interval (0.717, 1.0)). The best single predictor was max ΔFSS (AUC = 0.819, 90% confidence interval (0.624, 1.0)). The average of maximum FSS values from eroded plaques was 76% higher than that from the non-eroded plaques (127.96 vs. 72.69 dyn/cm²) while the average of mean FSS from erosion sites of the eight eroded plaques was 48.6% higher than that from sites without erosion (71.52 vs. 48.11 dyn/cm²). The average of mean PWS from plaques with erosion was 22.83% lower than that for plaques without erosion (83.2 kPa vs. 107.8 kPa). This pilot study suggested that combining plaque stress, strain and flow shear stress could help better identify patients with potential plaque erosion, enabling possible early intervention therapy. Further studies are needed to validate our findings.

In bone tissue engineering, scaffolds are crucial as they provide a suitable structure for cell proliferation. Transporting Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) to the cells and regulating the scaffold's biocompatibility are both controlled by the dynamics of the fluid passing through the scaffold pores. Scaffold design selection and modeling are thus important in tissue engineering to achieve successful bone regeneration. This study aims to design and analyze three scaffold designs-Face-Centered Cubic (FCC), and two newly developed designs Octagonal Truss and a Square Pyramid with four porosity variations. The research aims to analyze the effect of design and porosity variation on pressure and wall shear stress, essential for analyzing scaffold biocompatibility in tissue engineering. Three scaffold designs with varying porosities with strut diameters ranging from 0.3  to 0.6 mm were modeled to analyze the behavior using BioMed Clear Resin. The fluid dynamics within these scaffolds were then examined using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to understand how different porosity levels affect fluid flow pressure and wall shear stress. The findings revealed variations in wall shear stress and their influence on cell proliferation. The maximum value of wall shear stress (WSS) is observed in the Square Pyramid model. The analysis shows that WSS at the inlet decreases as strut diameters increase or porosity percentages rise offering valuable insights for the development of effective scaffold designs. It can be concluded from the results that the Square Pyramid design has the highest value of WSS, thus increasing the chances of cell growth. From a biological perspective, the results of this work show promise for creating better scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs) are associated with aortic wall remodeling that affects transmural transport or the movement of fluid and solute across the wall. In previous work, we used a Fbln4^E57K/E57K (MU) mouse model to investigate transmural transport changes as a function of aneurysm severity. We compared wild-type (WT), MU with no aneurysm (MU-NA), MU with aneurysm (MU-A), and MU with an additional genetic mutation that led to increased aneurysm penetrance (MU-XA). We found that all aneurysmal aortas (MU-A and MU-XA) had lower fluid flux compared to WT. Non-aneurysmal aortas (MU-NA) had higher 4 kDa FITC-dextran solute flux than WT, but aneurysmal MU-A and MU-XA aortas had solute fluxes similar to WT. Our experimental results could not isolate competing factors, such as changes in aortic geometry and solid material properties among these mouse models, to determine how intrinsic transport properties change with aneurysm severity. The objective of this study is to use biphasic and multiphasic models to identify changes in transport material properties. Our biphasic model indicates that hydraulic permeability is significantly decreased in the severe aneurysm model (MU-XA) compared to non-aneurysmal aortas (MU-NA). Our multiphasic model shows that effective solute diffusivity is increased in MU-NA aortas compared to all others. Our findings reveal changes in intrinsic transport properties that depend on aneurysm severity and are important for understanding the movement of fluids and solutes that may play a role in the diagnosis, progression, or treatment of TAA.

Living tissues experience various external forces on cells, influencing their behaviour, physiology, shape, gene expression, and destiny through interactions with their environment. Despite much research done in this area, challenges remain in our better understanding of the behaviour of the cell in response to external stimuli, including the arrangement, quantity, and shape of organelles within the cell. This study explores the electromechanical behaviour of biological cells, including organelles like microtubules, mitochondria, nuclei, and cell membranes. A two-dimensional bio-electromechanical model for two distinct cell structures has been developed to analyze the behavior of the biological cell to the external electrical and mechanical responses. The piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects have been included via multiphysics coupling for the biological cell. All the governing equations have been discretized and solved by the finite element method. It is found that the longitudinal stress is absent and only the transverse stress plays a crucial role when the mechanical load is imposed on the top side of the cell through compressive displacement. The impact of flexoelectricity is elucidated by introducing a new parameter called the maximum electric potential ratio ( $V_{R,\text{max}}$ ). It has been found that $V_{R,\text{max}}$ depends upon the orientation angle and shape of the microtubules. The magnitude of $V_{R,\text{max}}$ exhibit huge change when we change the shape and orientation of the organelles, which in some cases (boundary condition (BC)-3) can reach to three times of regular shape organelles. Further, the study reveals that the number of microtubules significantly impacts effective elastic and piezoelectric coefficients, affecting cell behavior based on structure, microtubule orientation, and mechanical stress direction. The insight obtained from the current study can assist in advancements in medical therapies such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.