Modeling the nutrientsbehavior in intervertebral discs: a boundary integral simulation

It is a well-known fact that computational biomechanics and mechanobiology have deserved great attention by the numerical-methods community. Many efforts and works can be found in technical literature. This work deals with the modeling of nutrients and their effects on the behavior of intervertebral...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular & cellular biomechanics 2013-03, Vol.10 (1), p.67-84
Main Authors: González, Y, Nieto, F, Cerrolaza, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Calcification
Computer applications
Computer Simulation
Elastic Modulus - physiology
Glucose - physiology
Humans
Intervertebral Disc - physiology
Intervertebral discs
Lactic acid
Lactic Acid - metabolism
Mechanotransduction, Cellular - physiology
Models, Biological
Nutrients
Oxygen
Oxygen - physiology
Porosity
Unloading
Vascularization
Viscosity
Weight-Bearing - physiology
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Summary:It is a well-known fact that computational biomechanics and mechanobiology have deserved great attention by the numerical-methods community. Many efforts and works can be found in technical literature. This work deals with the modeling of nutrients and their effects on the behavior of intervertebral discs. The numerical modeling was carried out using the Boundary ELement Method (BEM) and an axisymmetric model of the disc. Concentration and production of lactate and oxygen are modeled with the BEM. Results agree well enough with those obtained using finite elements. The numerical efforts in the domain and boundary discretizations are minimized using the BEM. Also, the effect of the calcification of the disc that causes the vascularization loss has been studied. The glucose, oxygen and lactate components behavior has been analyzed applying a mixed loading-unloading process, then allowing the study of the disc-height variations due to the degradation of the disc.
ISSN:1556-5297
1556-5300
DOI:10.3970/mcb.2013.010.067