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The mechanical behaviour of polymer scaffolds plays a vital role in their successful use in bone tissue engineering. The present study utilised novel sintered polymer scaffolds prepared using temperature-sensitive poly(DL-lactic acid-co-glycolic acid)/poly(ethylene glycol) particles. The microstructure of these scaffolds was monitored under compressive strain by image-guided failure assessment (IGFA), which combined synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SR CT) and in situ micro-compression. Three-dimensional CT data sets of scaffolds subjected to a strain rate of 0.01%/s illustrated particle movement within the scaffolds with no deformation or cracking. When compressed using a higher strain rate of 0.02%/s particle movement was more pronounced and cracks between sintered particles were observed. The results from this study demonstrate that IGFA based on simultaneous SR CT imaging and micro-compression testing is a useful tool for assessing structural and mechanical scaffold properties, leading to further insight into structure-function relationships in scaffolds for bone tissue engineering applications.

Identification of individuals at risk of bone fractures remains challenging despite recent advances in bone strength assessment. In particular, the future degradation of the microstructure and load adaptation has been disregarded. Bone remodeling simulations have so far been restricted to small-volume samples. Here, we present a large-scale framework for predicting microstructural adaptation in whole human vertebrae. The load-adaptive bone remodeling simulations include estimations of appropriate bone loading of three load cases as boundary conditions with microfinite element analysis. Homeostatic adaptation of whole human vertebrae over a simulated period of 10 years is achieved with changes in bone volume fraction (BV/TV) of less than 5%. Evaluation on subvolumes shows that simplifying boundary conditions reduces the ability of the system to maintain trabecular structures when keeping remodeling parameters unchanged. By rotating the loading direction, adaptation toward new loading conditions could be induced. This framework shows the possibility of using large-scale bone remodeling simulations toward a more accurate prediction of microstructural changes in whole human bones.

Bone is a complex material which exhibits several hierarchical levels of structural organization. At the submicron-scale, the local tissue porosity gives rise to discontinuities in the bone matrix which have been shown to influence damage behavior. Computational tools to model the damage behavior of bone at different length scales are mostly based on finite element (FE) analysis, with a range of algorithms developed for this purpose. Although the local mechanical behavior of bone tissue is influenced by microstructural features such as bone canals and osteocyte lacunae, they are often not considered in FE damage models due to the high computational cost required to simulate across several length scales, i.e., from the loads applied at the organ level down to the stresses and strains around bone canals and osteocyte lacunae. Hence, the aim of the current study was twofold: First, a multilevel FE framework was developed to compute, starting from the loads applied at the whole bone scale, the local mechanical forces acting at the micrometer and submicrometer level. Second, three simple microdamage simulation procedures based on element removal were developed and applied to bone samples at the submicrometer-scale, where cortical microporosity is included. The present microdamage algorithm produced a qualitatively analogous behavior to previous experimental tests based on stepwise mechanical compression combined with in situ synchrotron radiation computed tomography. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of simulating microdamage at a physiologically relevant scale using an image-based meshing technique and multilevel FE analysis; this allows relating microdamage behavior to intracortical bone microstructure.

Microstructural bone phenotypes, such as the intracortical canal network, could be directly linked to the mechanical failure behavior of cortical bone tissue. In addition, high accumulation of microdamage can significantly increase bone brittleness and thus, is a precursor of mechanical failure. Here, we discuss the development and validation of an automated step-wise micro-compression device (MCD) for dynamic image-guided failure assessment (DIGFA) of intracortical bone microstructure and bone microdamage. The device was found to be highly accurate and precise with positioning errors of less than 1 µm and force errors of less than 1.25 N. In addition, the results of a first biological study using DIGFA and time-lapsed computed tomography are presented. In short, whole mouse femora from mature C57BL/6 (B6) and C3H/He (C3H) mice with mid-diaphyseal notches were tested in step-wise compression and concomitantly imaged until failure. DIGFA was performed at the TOMCAT beamline of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) using synchrotron radiation-based computed tomography (SR CT). Following the experiment, intracortical porosity was separated into the canal network, osteocyte lacunae, and microcracks for subsequent morphometric evaluation. The thicker cortex of C3H was penetrated by a dense canal network, whereas in B6 only a few scattered canals were observed. For B6, the first occurrence of crack was noted at 1.45% local strain, while for C3H, crack initiation took place only at 2.66% local strain. In addition, we were able to relate whole bone mechanics to local failure events by deriving correlations between microstructural porosity and microdamage propagation. In conclusion, initiation and accumulation of microcracks were investigated for two mouse phenotypes demonstrating that DIGFA in combination with SR CT is a suitable technique for time-lapsed three-dimensional assessment of bone morphology and bone fracture behavior down to the cellular level.

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