Biomedical subjects

P L Mente

Publications and source records attributed to P L Mente.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Compression-induced changes in intervertebral disc properties in a rat tail model.

STUDY DESIGN: An Ilizarov-type apparatus was applied to the tails of rats to assess the influence of immobilization, chronically applied compression, and sham intervention on intervertebral discs of mature rats. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that chronically applied compressive forces and immobilization cause changes in the biomechanical behavior and biochemical composition of rat tail intervertebral discs. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Mechanical factors are associated with degenerative disc disease and low back pain, yet there have been few controlled studies in which the effects of compressive forces on the structure and function of the disc have been isolated. METHODS: The tails of 16 Sprague-Dawley rats were instrumented with an Ilizarov-type apparatus. Animals were separated into sham, immobilization, and compression groups based on the mechanical conditions imposed. In vivo biomechanical measurements of disc thickness, angular laxity, and axial and angular compliance were made at 14-day intervals during the course of the 56-day experiment, after which discs were harvested for measurement of water, proteoglycan, and collagen contents. RESULTS: Application of pins and rings alone (sham group) resulted in relatively small changes of in vivo biomechanical behavior. Immobilization resulted in decreased disc thickness, axial compliance, and angular laxity. Chronically applied compression had effects similar to those of immobilization alone but induced those changes earlier and in larger magnitudes. Application of external compressive forces also caused an increase in proteoglycan content of the intervertebral discs. CONCLUSIONS: The well-controlled loading environment applied to the discs in this model provides a means of isolating the influence of joint-loading conditions on the response of the intervertebral disc. Results indicate that chronically applied compressive forces, in the absence of any disease process, caused changes in mechanical properties and composition of tail discs. These changes have similarities and differences in comparison with human spinal disc degeneration.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Mechanical modulation of growth for the correction of vertebral wedge deformities.

This study tested the following hypotheses: (a) a vertebral wedge deformity created by chronic static asymmetrical loading will be corrected by reversal of the load asymmetry; (b) a vertebral wedge deformity created by chronic static asymmetrical loading will remain if the load is simply removed; and (c) vertebral longitudinal growth rates, altered by chronic static loading, will return to normal after removal of the load. An external fixator was used to impose an angular deformity (Cobb angle of 30 degrees) and an axial compression force (60% body weight) on the ninth caudal (apical) vertebra in two groups of 12 5-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. This asymmetrical loading was applied to all rats for 4 weeks to create an initial wedge deformity in the apical vertebra. The rats from group I (load reversal) then underwent 1 week of distraction loading followed by 4 weeks of asymmetrical compressive loading with the imposed 30 degree Cobb angle reversed. The rats from group II (load removal) had the apparatus removed and were followed for 5 weeks with no external loading. Weekly radiographs were obtained and serial fluorochrome labels were administered to follow vertebral wedging. After the initial 4-week loading period, the combined average wedge deformity that developed in the apical vertebra of the animals in both groups was 10.7 +/- 4.4 degrees. The group that underwent load reversal showed significant correction of the deformity with the wedging of the apical vertebra decreasing to, on average, 0.1 +/- 1.4 degrees during the 4 weeks of load reversal. Wedging of the apical vertebra in the group that underwent load removal significantly decreased to 7.3 +/- 3.9 degrees during the first week after removal of the load, but no significant changes in wedging occurred after that week. This indicated a return to a normal growth pattern following the removal of the asymmetrically applied loading. The longitudinal growth rate of the apical vertebra also returned to normal following removal of the load. Vertebrae maintained under a load of 60% body weight grew at a rate that was 59.4 +/- 17.0% lower than that of the control vertebrae, whereas after vertebrae were unloaded their growth averaged 102.4 +/- 31.8%. These findings show that a vertebral wedge deformity can be corrected by reversing the load used to create it and that vertebral growth is not permanently affected by applied loading.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Progression of vertebral wedging in an asymmetrically loaded rat tail model.

STUDY DESIGN: A rat tail model was used to test the hypothesis that angulation and asymmetric axial compressive loading would lead to vertebral wedging because of asymmetric longitudinal growth in the physes. OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of angulation and asymmetric loading on the progression of spinal curvature in a rat tail model. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Large idiopathic scoliotic curves in children with significant growth remaining are the curves most likely to progress. The mechanism of progression of skeletal deformities is thought to be controlled by the Hueter-Volkmann law, whereby additional axial compression decelerates growth, and reduced axial compression accelerates growth. It has been hypothesized that spinal curvature leads to asymmetric loading transversely along the vertebral growth plate, causing progressive vertebral wedging by means of a vicious cycle. METHODS: Two 32-mm diameter external ring fixators were glued to 0.7-mm pins that had been inserted percutaneously through the eighth and 10th caudal vertebra of 10 6-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. Calibrated springs and 15 degrees wedges, mounted on stainless steel threaded rods passing through holes distributed around the rings, imposed a 30 degrees Cobb angle and axially compressed the instrumented vertebrae. Fluorochrome labels and radiographs were used to document the progression of vertebral wedging. RESULTS: The wedging initially was entirely in the intervertebral discs, but by 6 weeks the wedging of the discs and vertebrae were approximately equal. Fluorochrome labeling confirmed that the vertebral wedging resulted from asymmetric growth in the physes. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that vertebrae, when asymmetrically loaded, become wedged. This is consistent with the concept of mechanically provoked progression of scoliotic deformities according to the Hueter-Volkmann law.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Intraoperative force-setting did not improve the mechanical properties of an augmented bone-tendon-bone anterior cruciate ligament graft in a goat model.

It has been hypothesized that load affects the mechanical properties of an anterior cruciate ligament graft while it remodels. The goal of this study was to use an existing goat model to evaluate the effect of intraoperative set force on the postoperative mechanical properties of an autograft that had been augmented with a synthetic segment. The following questions were addressed. Do augmented autografts set with a high force intraoperatively have improved structural and material graft properties and lower anterior-posterior knee laxity at 3 months after surgery, compared with autografts set with a low intraoperative force? How do the structural and material properties of these implanted autografts compare with the mechanical properties of an intact anterior cruciate ligament or an unimplanted control autograft? The anterior cruciate ligament was reconstructed in seven goats with use of a composite graft consisting of a bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft and a synthetic augmentation device. A force-setting technique was used intraoperatively to establish the load-sharing between the autograft and augmentation segments such that the autograft carried either a high (16.5 N in four animals) or low (1.5 N in three animals) level of force, while the total force in the composite graft remained constant. Tensile testing was performed at 3 months after surgery to determine the material and structural properties of the autograft, the intact anterior cruciate ligament from the normal contralateral knee, and a control bone-patellar tendon-bone graft of similar size that was harvested from the contralateral knee at the time of necropsy and had never been implanted in the joint. The structural and material properties of the autografts initially set to high or low loads at surgery were not significantly different after 3 months of implantation. The strength and stiffness of the implanted tendons were an average of 24 and 20% of the strength and stiffness of the normal anterior cruciate ligament and 31 and 62% of the control tendons, respectively. Intraoperative set force in an augmented anterior cruciate ligament graft at the levels chosen in this study did not significantly affect weakening of the autograft at 3 months.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Design and biomechanics of a plate for the distal radius.

A dorsal plate for the distal radius was designed to provide rigid fixation and thus allow early motion. It functions as a blade plate, lessening the role of metaphyseal screws, and providing internal neutralization rather than compression. The rigidity and strength of the plate were compared to the existing T-plate in an unstable, extra-articular fracture model in paired, fresh-cadaver, axially loaded radii. The dorsal plate construct was significantly stronger and more rigid than the T-plate construct. The failure mode was similar for both plate types; 8 of 10 constructs failed with plate bending and screw loosening, while the oldest specimen pair showed primary bone failure. Compared to the T-plate, the dorsal plate transmitted a greater single axial load from the articular surface to the shaft.

Aged↗

PubMed1994

Elastic modulus of calcified cartilage is an order of magnitude less than that of subchondral bone.

The elastic moduli of calcified cartilage and subchondral bone tissues were measured experimentally with use of a three-point bending test. Specimens were obtained from a bovine patella and the distal end of a bovine femur, from two different animals. Fifteen specimens were tested as "pure" subchondral bone beams, and 15 were tested as composite calcified cartilage/subchondral bone beams. A least-squares optimization scheme was used to obtain modulus values from the composite beams. The elastic modulus for subchondral bone calculated from the "pure" subchondral bone beams was 2.3 +/- 1.5 GPa (3.9 +/- 1.5 GPa for specimens from the femur and 1.6 +/- 0.7 GPa for specimens from the patella). The composite beam optimization resulted in a modulus for subchondral bone of 5.7 +/- 1.9 GPa and a modulus for calcified cartilage of 0.32 +/- 0.25 GPa. The modulus for the calcified cartilage was more than an order of magnitude lower than the modulus of the underlying subchondral bone. This supports the idea that the zone of calcified cartilage forms a transitional zone of intermediate stiffness between the articular cartilage and the subchondral bone.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Experimental method for the measurement of the elastic modulus of trabecular bone tissue.

A procedure has been developed to measure the elastic modulus of small, irregularly shaped specimens without significantly disturbing the specimen's internal or surface structure. This procedure was developed to measure the average elastic modulus of isolated trabeculae from human cancellous bone tissue. The procedure combines direct testing of a cantilever beam-type specimen, along with finite element modeling of the specimen and the testing conditions. Initial estimates for the bone tissue material properties are input into the finite element model; differences between the calculated finite element displacement and the experimentally observed displacement allows the actual material modulus to be determined. Machined aluminum and cortical bone specimens were used to test the accuracy and repeatability of the procedure. Manipulations of the finite element models were performed to examine the effect that mesh construction errors might have on the accuracy of the results. None of the parameters examined resulted in changes in the measured finite element displacements of greater than 8%. In tests on six trabecular bone specimens, an average elastic modulus of 7.8 GPa was calculated. Even taking into account the possible sources of error, this value remains significantly less than the accepted value for cortical bone.

Bone and Bones↗