Lars Johansson

Fluid flow is important in many biomechanical models, but there is a lack of experimental data that quantifies soft tissue permeability. We measured the tissue permeability in fibrous soft tissue, using a novel technique to obtain specimens by allowing soft tissue to grow into coralline hydroxyapatite scaffoldings implanted between the abdominal muscle layers of rats.

A model to calculate bone resorption driven by fluid flow at the bone–soft tissue interface is developed and used as a basis for computer calculations, which are compared to experiments where bone is subjected to fluid flow in a rat model. Previous models for bone remodelling calculations have been based on the state of stress, strain or energy density of the bone tissue as the stimulus for remodelling. We believe that there is experimental support for an additional pathway where an increase in the amount of the cells directly involved in bone removal, the osteoclasts, is caused by fluid pressure, flow velocity or other parameters related to fluid flow at the bone–soft tissue interface, resulting in bone resorption.

A model where bone resorption is driven by stimulus from fluid flow is developed and used as a basis for computer simulations, which are compared with experiments. Models for bone remodeling are usually based on the state of stress, strain, or energy density of the bone tissue as the stimulus for remodeling. We believe that there is experimental support for an additional pathway, where an increase in the amount of osteoclasts, and thus osteolysis, is caused by the time history of fluid flow velocity, fluid pressure, or other parameters related to fluid flow at the bone/soft tissue interface of the porosities in the bone.

In the present paper a model for the resorption of bone, such as that observed at the interface between surgical implants and bone tissue, is developed. While there are many previous studies where models for bone remodelling calculations are proposed, these have been based on the stress or strain state of the bone tissue itself as the driving force for bone remodelling. We, instead, develop a constitutive model based on observations in recent experiments where it seems that fluid pressure, or possibly fluid flow velocity, is a major factor in the bone resorption process.