Simulating 3D Architectural and Mechanical Changes in Human Trabecular Bone During Menopause

The reduced level of estrogen during menopause leads to an increase in bone remodeling activation and a subsequent decrease in bone mass, despite normal bone formation activities. However, kinetic simulations of bone remodeling have indicated that both a maintained increase in bone remodeling activation and a transient imbalance in local bone remodeling (i.e., a small, local deficit between bone formation and bone resorption) are required to predict the clinical course of bone mineral density loss during post-menopausal osteoporosis.

The reduced level of estrogen during menopause leads to an increase in bone remodeling activation and a subsequent decrease in bone mass, despite normal bone formation activities. However, kinetic simulations of bone remodeling have indicated that both a maintained increase in bone remodeling activation and a transient imbalance in local bone remodeling (i.e., a small, local deficit between bone formation and bone resorption) are required to predict the clinical course of bone mineral density loss during post-menopausal osteoporosis. The later assumption has not been supported by the available bone histomorphometric data that the resorption depth in older women is the same as in young women. Interestingly, a three-dimensional (3D) simulation of age-related bone remodeling using micro-CT images of trabecular bone also suggests that a bone formation deficit is a dominate cause of post-menopausal bone loss. Therefore, the mechanism of post-menopausal bone loss is still uncertain. In this study, a rigorous 3D image topological analysis technique has been incorporated in the 3D simulation of trabecular bone remodeling with a specific consideration of three types of microscopic bone loss: trabecular perforation, breakage, and isolation. The available literature in bone biology suggests that perforated holes in trabecular plates, broken trabeculae, or small isolated bone volumes broken off from the main architecture are not refilled or re-connected during the remodeling process. In this study, we simulate the bone remodeling process during and after menopause by a detailed 3D human trabecular bone model and quantify the amount of the bone loss due to each mechanism.

Related Publications

  1. Liu XS, Huang AH, Sajda P, Guo XE, Simulating 3D Architectural and Mechanical Changes in Human Trabecular Bone During Menopause, Chicago, Illinois, March 19-22, 2006
     
  2. Liu XS, Huang AH, Sajda P, Guo XE, Realistic Simulation of 3D Architectural and Mechanical Alterations in Human Trabecular Bone During Menopause, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference , Amelia island, FL, June 21-25, 2006