Full‐field strain of regenerated bone tissue in a femoral fracture model

The mechanical behavior of regenerated bone tissue during fracture healing is key in determining its ability to withstand physiological loads. However, the strain distribution in the newly formed tissue and how this influences the way a fracture heals it is still unclear. X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) has been extensively used to assess the progress of mineralized tissues in regeneration and when combined with in situ mechanics and digital volume correlation (DVC) has been proven a powerful tool to understand the mechanical behavior and full-field three-dimensional (3D) strain distribution in bone. The purpose of this study is therefore to use in situ XCT mechanics and DVC to investigate the strain distribution and load-bearing capacity in a regenerating fracture in the diaphyseal bone, using a rodent femoral fracture model stabilized by external fixation. Rat femurs with 1 mm and 2 mm osteotomy gaps were tested under in situ XCT step-wise compression in the apparent elastic region. High strain was present in the newly formed bone (εp1 and εp3 reaching 29000 με and -43000 με, respectively), with a wide variation and inhomogeneity of the 3D strain distribution in the regenerating tissues of the fracture gap, which is directly related to the presence of unmineralized tissue observed in histological images. The outcomes of this study will contribute in understanding natural regenerative ability of bone and its mechanical behavior under loading

Finite Element Analysis of Osteosynthesis Screw Fixation in the Bone Stock: An Appropriate Method for Automatic Screw Modelling

The use of finite element analysis (FEA) has grown to a more and more important method in the field of biomedical engineering and biomechanics. Although increased computational performance allows new ways to generate more complex biomechanical models, in the area of orthopaedic surgery, solid modelling of screws and drill holes represent a limitation of their use for individual cases and an increase of computational costs. To cope with these requirements, different methods for numerical screw modelling have therefore been investigated to improve its application diversity. Exemplarily, fixation was performed for stabilization of a large segmental femoral bone defect by an osteosynthesis plate. Three different numerical modelling techniques for implant fixation were used in this study, i.e. without screw modelling, screws as solid elements as well as screws as structural elements. The latter one offers the possibility to implement automatically generated screws with variable geometry on arbitrary FE models. Structural screws were parametrically generated by a Python script for the automatic generation in the FE-software Abaqus/CAE on both a tetrahedral and a hexahedral meshed femur. Accuracy of the FE models was confirmed by experimental testing using a composite femur with a segmental defect and an identical osteosynthesis plate for primary stabilisation with titanium screws. Both deflection of the femoral head and the gap alteration were measured with an optical measuring system with an accuracy of approximately 3 µm. For both screw modelling techniques a sufficient correlation of approximately 95% between numerical and experimental analysis was found. Furthermore, using structural elements for screw modelling the computational time could be reduced by 85% using hexahedral elements instead of tetrahedral elements for femur meshing. The automatically generated screw modelling offers a realistic simulation of the osteosynthesis fixation with screws in the adjacent bone stock and can be used for further investigations

Determination of Soluble Fibrin by Turbidimetry of its Protamine Sulphate-Induced Paracoagulation

Peer Reviewe

Influence of three different preservative techniques on the mechanical properties of the ovine cortical bone

Purpose: Preservative treatments are necessary for disinfection and long term storage when dealing with biological tissue. Freezing is a gold standard but infectious risk can only be eliminated by using chemical fluids that may alter the mechanical properties, depending on their composition. Therefore, we experimentally evaluated the influence of freezing and of two commonly used preservative fluids (formalin and alcohol) on the intrinsic mechanical properties of ovine cortical bone samples, compared to purely fresh samples. Methods: Prismatic specimens were prepared from the sheep’s metacarpal bones and were divided into four groups (fresh, fresh-frozen, formalin and alcohol). All samples underwent four-point-bending; fresh samples were tested immediately, preserved samples were tested after 14 days. Bending modulus, bending strength, yield strength and energy absorption for the elastic and plastic region were determined. Results: Significant differences were found for the plastic energy absorption for formalin (–41%) and alcohol (+37%) preservation compared to fresh samples. Formalin preservation revealed embrittlement of the cortical bone samples and alcohol preservation revealed higher ability of plastic energy absorption. Conclusions: Our results indicate that freezing has no influence on the mechanical properties of the ovine cortical bone. Preservation with chemical fluids (formalin and alcohol) showed no influence on the elastic properties but it was observed for the ability of plastic energy absorption. Therefore, these methods seem to be suitable for preservation without evident altering of the elastic mechanical properties

Influence of short-term fixation with mixed formalin or ethanol solution on the mechanical properties of human cortical bone

Bone specimens obtained for biomechanical experiments are fresh-frozen for storage to slow down tissue degradation and autolysis in long-term storage. Alternatively, due to infectious risks related to the fresh tissues, fixative agents are commonly used. However, fixatives will likely change the mechanical properties of bone. Existing studies on this issue gave controversial results that are hardly comparable due to a variety of measurement approaches. For this reason, the influence of ethanol and a formalin-based fixative agent was evaluated on the mechanical properties of human cortical bone specimens by means of four-point-bending tests. 127 prismatic specimens with rectangular cross sections (2.5 x 2.5 x 20 mm3) were obtained from different regions of two fresh human femora (medial, lateral, dorsal, ventral). Specimens were either fixed in ethanol or in a mixed formalin solution or frozen following a given scheme. After two weeks of storage the samples were re-hydrated in isotonic saline and subsequently tested mechanically. The elastic bending modulus and ultimate bending strength were computed considering the actual dimensions of each specific specimen. For statistical analysis a one-way-ANOVA and an LSD post-hoc-test were performed. For ultimate bending strength no significant differences due to formalin or ethanol fixation, as compared to unfixed-fresh bone specimens could be found. And only for few cases significant differences in elastic bending modulus were observed when the two bones were evaluated separately. Since more differences of significant level due to the anatomical region of the samples were determined, the original location seems to have more influence on the evaluated mechanical properties than the method of (chemical) fixation. Consequently, ethanol and the mixed formalin solution can be recommended as a fixation agent for samples in biomechanical testing, if these samples are rinsed in isotonic saline prior to static mechanical testing

Theoretical Study of Structures and Ring-Puckering Potential Energy Functions of Bicylo[3.1.0]hexane and Related Molecules

Ab initio computations using the MP2/cc-pVTZ method have been carried out to calculate the structures and relative energies of the different conformations of five bicyclic molecules including bicyclo[3.1.0]­hexane, 3-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]­hexane, 6-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]­hexane, 3,6-oxabicyclo[3.1.0]­hexane, and bicyclo[3.1.0]­hexan-3-one. Theoretical ring-puckering potential energy functions (PEFs) in terms of the ring-puckering coordinate have been calculated for each of the molecules and these were compared to those determined experimentally from spectroscopic data. Each potential function is asymmetric and has an energy minimum corresponding to where the five-membered ring is puckered in the same direction as the attached three-membered ring. In contrast to the experimental result, the calculations predict that bicyclo[3.1.0]­hexane has a second shallow energy minimum. All of the other molecules have a single conformational minimum and their experimental and theoretical PEFs agree very well. The wave functions for the lower ring-puckering energy levels have been computed