Skeletal adaptation to mechanical loading is controlled by mechanobiological signaling. Osteocytes are highly responsive to applied strains, and are the key mechanosensory cells in bone. However, many cells residing in the marrow also respond to mechanical cues such as hydrostatic pressure and shear stress, and hence could play a role in skeletal adaptation. Trabecular bone encapsulates marrow, forming a poroelastic solid. According to the mechanical theory, deformation of the pores induces motion in the fluid-like marrow, resulting in pressure and velocity gradients. The latter results in shear stress acting between the components of the marrow. To characterize the mechanical environment of trabecular bone marrow in situ, pore pressure within the trabecular compartment of whole porcine femurs was measured with miniature pressure transducers during stress-relaxation and cyclic loading. Pressure gradients ranging from 0.013 to 0.46 kPa/mm were measured during loading. This range was consistent with calculated pressure gradients from continuum scale poroelastic models with the same permeability. Micro-scale computational fluid dynamics models created from computed tomography images were used to calculate the micromechanical stress in the marrow using the measured pressure differentials as boundary conditions. The volume averaged shear stress in the marrow ranged from 1.67 to 24.55 Pa during cyclic loading, which exceeds the mechanostimulatory threshold for mesenchymal lineage cells. Thus, the loading of bone through activities of daily living may be an essential component of bone marrow health and mechanobiology. Additional studies of cell-level interactions during loading in healthy and disease conditions will provide further incite into marrow mechanobiology.

Microdamage has been cited as an important element of trabecular bone quality and fracture risk, as materials with flaws have lower modulus and strength than equivalent undamaged materials. However, the magnitude of the effect of damage on failure properties depends on its tendency to propagate. Human femoral trabecular bone from the neck and greater trochanter was subjected to one of compressive, torsional, or combined compression and torsion. The in vivo, new, and propagating damage were then quantified in thick sections under epifluorescent microscopy. Multiaxial loading, which was intended to represent an off-axis load such as a fall or accident, caused much more damage than either simple compression or shear, and similarly caused the greatest stiffness loss. In all cases, initiation of new damage far exceeded the propagation of existing damage. This may reflect stress redistribution away from damaged trabeculae, resulting in new damage sites. However, the accumulation of new damage was positively correlated with the quantity of pre-existing damage in all loading modes, indicating that damaged bone is inherently more prone to further damage formation. Moreover, about 50% of in vivo microcracks propagated under each type of loading. Finally, damage formation was positively correlated to decreased compressive stiffness following both axial and shear loading. Taken together, these results demonstrate that damage in trabecular bone adversely affects its mechanical properties, and is indicative of bone that is more susceptible to further damage.