Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 164146, 14 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/164146
Research Article
Superficial Collagen Fibril Modulus and Pericellular Fixed Charge Density Modulate Chondrocyte Volumetric Behaviour in Early Osteoarthritis
1Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
2Fischell Department of Bioengineering, A.J. Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
3Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio University Hospital, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
4Human Performance Laboratory, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4
5Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4
Received 18 October 2012; Revised 7 January 2013; Accepted 22 January 2013
Academic Editor: C. C. Van Donkelaar
Copyright © 2013 Petri Tanska et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate if the experimentally detected altered chondrocyte volumetric behavior in early osteoarthritis can be explained by changes in the extracellular and pericellular matrix properties of cartilage. Based on our own experimental tests and the literature, the structural and mechanical parameters for normal and osteoarthritic cartilage were implemented into a multiscale fibril-reinforced poroelastic swelling model. Model simulations were compared with experimentally observed cell volume changes in mechanically loaded cartilage, obtained from anterior cruciate ligament transected rabbit knees. We found that the cell volume increased by 7% in the osteoarthritic cartilage model following mechanical loading of the tissue. In contrast, the cell volume decreased by 4% in normal cartilage model. These findings were consistent with the experimental results. Increased local transversal tissue strain due to the reduced collagen fibril stiffness accompanied with the reduced fixed charge density of the pericellular matrix could increase the cell volume up to 12%. These findings suggest that the increase in the cell volume in mechanically loaded osteoarthritic cartilage is primarily explained by the reduction in the pericellular fixed charge density, while the superficial collagen fibril stiffness is suggested to contribute secondarily to the cell volume behavior.