Effects of mechanical forces on maintenance and adaptation of form in trabecular bone

Rik Huiskes (), Ronald Ruimerman, G. Harry van Lenthe and Jan D. Janssen
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Rik Huiskes: Orthopaedic Research Lab, University of Nijmegen
Ronald Ruimerman: Orthopaedic Research Lab, University of Nijmegen
G. Harry van Lenthe: Orthopaedic Research Lab, University of Nijmegen
Jan D. Janssen: Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology

Nature, 2000, vol. 405, issue 6787, 704-706

Abstract: Abstract The architecture of trabecular bone, the porous bone found in the spine and at articulating joints, provides the requirements for optimal load transfer, by pairing suitable strength and stiffness to minimal weight according to rules of mathematical design1,2,3,4,5,6. But, as it is unlikely that the architecture is fully pre-programmed in the genes7, how are the bone cells informed about these rules, which so obviously dictate architecture? A relationship exists between bone architecture and mechanical usage8—while strenuous exercise increases bone mass9, disuse, as in microgravity and inactivity, reduces it10. Bone resorption cells (osteoclasts) and bone formation cells (osteoblasts) normally balance bone mass in a coupled homeostatic process of remodelling, which renews some 25% of trabecular bone volume per year. Here we present a computational model of the metabolic process in bone that confirms that cell coupling is governed by feedback from mechanical load transfer11,12,13.This model can explain the emergence and maintenance of trabecular architecture as an optimal mechanical structure, as well as its adaptation to alternative external loads.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35015116

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