A spatio-temporal model for cancellous bone at the tissue scale

Author: Brianna Martin

Martin, Brianna , 2019 A spatio-temporal model for cancellous bone at the tissue scale, Flinders University, College of Science and Engineering

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Abstract

A spatio-temporal partial differentiation model is presented for the change in cancel- lous bone volume in growing animals, in terms of key bone remodelling processes. The model parameters were found by optimising the analytic solution of the model over ex- perimental bone volume data. Experimental data comprises microcomputed CT scans of juvenile rat tibia from three groups, including normal rats, oestrogen-deplete rats, and oestrogen-deplete rats treated with bisphosphonates. The model demonstrates that can- cellous bone volume in normal growing rats does not change over time. The model also explains the changes in cancellous bone volume due to oestrogen depletion and bisphos- phonate treatment. However, for bisphosphonate treated rats, the model cannot explain all of the changes in cancellous bone volume mechanistically, for bone adjacent to the growth plate. Good fits between the model and data were obtained by making simple assumptions regarding the effect of treatment, leading to conjecture regarding the role of bisphosphonates in growing animals.

Keywords: bone remodelling, mathematical model, cancellous bone, endochondral ossification, bone growth

Subject: Science, Technology and Enterprise thesis

Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2019
School: College of Science and Engineering
Supervisor: Associate Professor Murk Bottema