Nonuniform distribution of collagen density in human knee ligaments

Mommersteeg, T.J.A.; Blankevoort, Leendert; Kooloos, J.G.M.; Hendriks, Jan C.M.; Kauer, J.M.G.; Huiskes, R.

doi:10.1002/jor.1100120213

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Mommersteeg et al 58 found that orientation of loading at the knee is more critical in the cruciate ligaments compared with the collaterals and that loading orientation may affect the tensile stiffness of the ACL. Mommersteeg and colleagues59 also showed that collagen density is different between human ACL and MCL, with the ACL showing significantly lower collagen density compared with the MCL. Variations in collagen density have been shown to correspond to differences in Young’s modulus for the ACL and MCL 60.…”

Section: Valgus Collapse Mechanism: a More Recent Discovery And Probamentioning

confidence: 98%

The anterior cruciate ligament injury controversy: is “valgus collapse” a sex-specific mechanism?

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a devastating injury that puts an athlete at high risk of future osteoarthritis. Identification of risk factors and development of ACL prevention programmes likely decrease injury risk. Although studies indicate that sagittal plane biomechanical factors contribute to ACL loading mechanisms, it is unlikely that non-contact ACL injuries occur solely in a sagittal plane. Some authors attempt to ascribe the solely sagittal plane injury mechanism to both female and male ACL injuries and rebuff the concept that knee “valgus” is associated with isolated ACL injury. Prospective studies that utilise coupled biomechanical and epidemiological approaches demonstrated that frontal knee motions and torques are strong predictors of future non-contact ACL injury risk in female athletes. Video analysis studies also indicate a frontal plane “valgus collapse” mechanism of injury in women. As load sharing between knee ligaments is complex, frontal as well as sagittal and transverse plane loading mechanisms likely contribute to non-contact ACL injury. The purpose of this review is to summarise existing evidence regarding ACL injury mechanisms and to propose that sex-specific mechanisms of ACL injury may occur, with women sustaining injuries by a predominantly “valgus collapse” mechanism. Conclusion Prevention programmes and interventions that only target high-risk sagittal plane landing mechanics, especially in the female athlete, are likely to be less effective in ameliorating important frontal and transverse plane contributions to ACL injury mechanisms and could seriously hamper ACL injury prevention efforts. Programmes that target the reduction of high-risk valgus and sagittal plane movements will probably prove to be superior for ACL injury prevention.

show abstract

Section: Valgus Collapse Mechanism: a More Recent Discovery And Probamentioning

confidence: 98%

The anterior cruciate ligament injury controversy: is “valgus collapse” a sex-specific mechanism?

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Facet capsular and other ligaments have varied fiber organization and density in different subregions where nerves have been identified and across different anatomic ligaments [1,[86][87][88][89]. The specific anatomy of a ligament can lead to varied macroscopic and microscopic mechanical responses especially for varied loading directions and under different loading rates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tissue Strain Reorganizes Collagen With a Switchlike Response That Regulates Neuronal Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Phosphorylation In Vitro: Implications for Ligamentous Injury and Mechanotransduction

Zhang

Stablow

Shenoy

et al. 2016

Journal of Biomechanical Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Excessive loading of ligaments can activate the neural afferents that innervate the collagenous tissue, leading to a host of pathologies including pain. An integrated experimental and modeling approach was used to define the responses of neurons and the surrounding collagen fibers to the ligamentous matrix loading and to begin to understand how macroscopic deformation is translated to neuronal loading and signaling. A neuron-collagen construct (NCC) developed to mimic innervation of collagenous tissue underwent tension to strains simulating nonpainful (8%) or painful ligament loading (16%). Both neuronal phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which is related to neuroplasticity (R 2 ! 0.041; p 0.0171) and neuronal aspect ratio (AR) (R 2 ! 0.250; p < 0.0001), were significantly correlated with tissue-level strains. As NCC strains increased during a slowly applied loading (1%/s), a "switchlike" fiber realignment response was detected with collagen reorganization occurring only above a transition point of 11.3% strain. A finite-element based discrete fiber network (DFN) model predicted that at bulk strains above the transition point, heterogeneous fiber strains were both tensile and compressive and increased, with strains in some fibers along the loading direction exceeding the applied bulk strain. The transition point identified for changes in collagen fiber realignment was consistent with the measured strain threshold (11.7% with a 95% confidence interval of 10.2-13.4%) for elevating ERK phosphorylation after loading. As with collagen fiber realignment, the greatest degree of neuronal reorientation toward the loading direction was observed at the NCC distraction corresponding to painful loading. Because activation of neuronal ERK occurred only at strains that produced evident collagen fiber realignment, findings suggest that tissue strain-induced changes in the micromechanical environment, especially altered local collagen fiber kinematics, may be associated with mechanotransduction signaling in neurons.

show abstract

“…Differences in the biochemical composition of ligaments has been studied in an effort to explain the observed material property inhomogeneities. 153,154 Frank et al 153 studied the normal rabbit MCL and found different levels of water content, glycosaminoglycan content and collagen concentration along the length of the ligament. Mommersteeg et al 154 showed that collagen density is nonuniformly distributed throughout human knee ligaments.…”

Section: Materials Properties Of Ligamentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational Modeling of Ligament Mechanics

Weiss

Gardiner

2001

Crit Rev Biomed Eng

191

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article provides a critical review of past and current techniques for the computational modeling of ligaments and tendons. A brief overview of relevant concepts from the fields of continuum mechanics and finite element analysis is provided. The structure and function of ligaments and tendons are reviewed in detail, with emphasis on the relationship of microstructural tissue features to the continuum mechanical hehavior. Experimental techniques for the material characterization of biological soft tissues are discussed. Past and current efforts related to the constitutive modeling of ligaments and tendons are classified by the particular technique and dimensionality. Applications of one-dimensional and three-dimensional constitutive models in the representation of the mechanical behavior of joints are presented. Future research directions are identified.

show abstract

Nonuniform distribution of collagen density in human knee ligaments

Cited by 30 publications

References 14 publications

The anterior cruciate ligament injury controversy: is “valgus collapse” a sex-specific mechanism?

The anterior cruciate ligament injury controversy: is “valgus collapse” a sex-specific mechanism?

Tissue Strain Reorganizes Collagen With a Switchlike Response That Regulates Neuronal Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Phosphorylation In Vitro: Implications for Ligamentous Injury and Mechanotransduction

Computational Modeling of Ligament Mechanics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About