A structural-based computational model of tendon-bone insertion tissues.

A structural-based computational model of tendon-bone insertion tissues. Math Biosci. 2020 Jul 02;:108411 Authors: Kuznetsov S, Pankow M, Peters K, Huang HS Abstract Tendon-to-bone insertion provides a gradual transition from soft tendon to hard bone tissue, functioning to alleviate stress concentrations at the junction of these tissues. Such macroscopic mechanical properties are achieved due to the internal structure in which collagen fibers and mineralization levels are key ingredients. We develop a structural-based model of tendon-to-bone insertion incorporating such details as fiber preferred orientation, fiber directional dispersion, mineralization level, and their inhomogeneous spatial distribution. A python script is developed to alter the tapered tendon-bone transition zone and to provide spatial grading of material properties, which may be rather complex as experiments suggest. A simple linear interpolation between tendon and bone material properties is first used to describe the graded property within the insertion region. Stress distributions are obtained and compared for spatially graded and various piece-wise materials properties. It is observed that spatial grading results in more smooth stress distributions and significantly reduces maximum stresses. The geometry of the tissue model are optimized by minimizing the peak stress to mimic in-vivo tissue remodeling. The in-silico elastic models constructed in this work are ...
Source: Mathematical Biosciences - Category: Statistics Authors: Tags: Math Biosci Source Type: research