Peak Stress in the Annulus Fibrosus Under Cyclic Biaxial Tensile Loading

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad E. Gooyers ◽  
Jack P. Callaghan

Numerous in vitro studies have examined the initiation and propagation of fatigue injury pathways in the annulus fibrosus (AF) using isolated motion segments; however, the cycle-varying changes to the AF under cyclic biaxial tensile loading conditions have yet to be examined. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to characterize the cycle-varying changes in peak tensile stress in multilayer AF tissue samples within a range of physiologically relevant loading conditions at subacute magnitudes of tissue stretch up to 100 loading cycles. A secondary aim was to examine whether the stress-relaxation response would be different across loading axes (axial and circumferential) and whether this response would vary across regions of the intervertebral disk (IVD) (anterior and posterior–lateral). The results from the study demonstrate that several significant interactions emerged between independent factors that were examined in the study. Specifically, a three-way interaction between the radial location, magnitude of peak tissue stretch, and cycle rate (p = 0.0053) emerged. Significant two-way interactions between the magnitude of tissue stretch and cycle number (p < 0.0001) and the magnitude of tissue stretch and loading axis (p < 0.0001) were also observed. These findings are discussed in the context of known mechanisms for structural damage, which have been linked to fatigue loading in the IVD (e.g., cleft formation, radial tearing, increased neutral zone, disk bulging, and loss of intradiscal pressure).

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Gruevski ◽  
Chad E. Gooyers ◽  
Thomas Karakolis ◽  
Jack P. Callaghan

Preventing dehydration during in vitro testing of isolated layers of annulus fibrosus tissue may require different test conditions than functional spine units. The purpose of the study was twofold: (A) to quantify changes in mass and thickness of multilayer annulus samples in four hydration environments over 120 min; and (B) to quantify cycle-varying biaxial tensile properties of annulus samples in the four environments. The environments included a saline bath, air, relative humidity control, and misting combined with controlled humidity. The loading protocol implemented 24 cycles of biaxial tensile loading to 20% strain at a rate of 2%/s with 3-, 8-, and 13-min of intermittent rest. Specimen mass increased an average (standard deviation) 72% (11) when immersed for 120 min (p < 0.0001). The air condition and the combined mist and relative humidity conditions reduced mass by 45% (15) and 25% (23), respectively, after 120 min (p < 0.0014). Stress at 16% stretch in the air condition was higher at cycle 18 (18 min of exposure) and cycle 24 (33 min of exposure) compared to all other environments in both the axial and circumferential directions (p < 0.0460). There was no significant change in mass or thickness over time in the relative humidity condition and the change in circumferential stress at 16% stretch between cycles 6 and 24 was a maximum of 0.099 MPa and not statistically significant. Implementation of a controlled relative humidity environment is recommended to maintain hydration of isolated annulus layers during cyclic tensile testing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. 704-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Tisherman ◽  
Paulo Coelho ◽  
David Phillibert ◽  
Dong Wang ◽  
Qing Dong ◽  
...  

Background Intervertebral disk degeneration (IDD) has a greater than 90% lifetime incidence and is one of the leading causes of chronic back pain in the United States. Despite the high societal cost of IDD, there is limited understanding of the biological effects of mechanical overloading on further degeneration. The transcription factor NF-κB (nuclear factor κB) has been implicated as a key mediator of disk cell response to inflammatory and mechanical stresses and represents a potential control point. Objective The study objective was to measure the effect of NF-κB signaling pathway inhibition on annulus fibrosus (AF) cell matrix synthesis and gene expression under conditions of combined inflammatory and mechanical stimulation. Methods Annulus fibrosus cells were harvested from rabbit intervertebral disks and grown in vitro on flexible plates. The cells were exposed to inflammatory and mechanical stimulation for 24 hours with and without NF-κB inhibition. Nuclear translocation of NF-κB was measured via immunofluorescent staining. Intervertebral disk cell homeostasis was assessed via inflammatory, anabolic, and catabolic gene expression and via matrix synthetic ability. Results NF-κB nuclear translocation in response to interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) was reversed with exposure to NF-κB inhibition. NF-κB inhibition decreased matrix metalloproteinase-3, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 gene expression and prostaglandin E2 production response to combined inflammatory and mechanical stimulation. Proteoglycan and collagen synthesis were decreased by combined stimulation, but this effect was not reversed by NF-κB inhibition. Limitations In vitro modeling of conditions within the disk may not fully reflect the response that AF cells have in native matrix. Conclusions NF-κB signaling mediates catabolic and inflammatory responses to inflammatory and mechanical stimulation but does not mediate the decrease in matrix synthesis under combined harmful stimulation. Identification of key control points in the cellular responses to inflammatory and mechanical stimuli will facilitate rational design of exercise-based therapies and facilitate synergistic treatments of novel biochemical treatments with rehabilitation regimens.


Spine ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1284-1290 ◽  
Author(s):  
MASAYUKI SHINMEI ◽  
TOSHIYUKI KIKUCHI ◽  
MASAAKI YAMAGISHI ◽  
YUTAKA SHIMOMURA

Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Gadomski ◽  
John Rasmussen ◽  
Christian M. Puttlitz

The human spine experiences complex loading in vivo; however, simplifications to these loading conditions are commonly made in computational and experimental protocols. Pure moments are often used in cadaveric preparations to replicate in vivo loading conditions, and previous studies have shown this method adequately predicts range of motion behavior (1, 2). It is unclear what effect pure moment loading has on the tissue-level internal mechanical parameters such as stresses in the annulus fibrosus and facet contact parameters. Recent advances in musculoskeletal modeling have elucidated previously unknown quantities of the musculature recruitment patterns such as times, forces, and directions. The advancements are especially relevant in cases of surgical intervention because the spinal musculature has been reported to play a critical role in providing additional stability to the spine when defects such as discectomy and nucleotomy are involved (2). Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the importance of computational loading conditions on the resultant global ranges of motion, as well as the tissue-level predictions of annulus fibrosus stresses, and facet contact pressures, forces, and areas.


Author(s):  
Goran Alpsten

This paper is based on the experience from investigating over 400 structural collapses, incidents and serious structural damage cases with steel structures which have occurred over the past four centuries. The cause of the failures is most often a gross human error rather than a combination of “normal” variations in parameters affecting the load-carrying capacity, as considered in normal design procedures and structural reliability analyses. Human errors in execution are more prevalent as cause for the failures than errors in the design process, and the construction phase appears particularly prone to human errors. For normal steel structures with quasi-static (non-fatigue) loading, various structural instability phenomena have been observed to be the main collapse mode. An important observation is that welds are not as critical a cause of structural steel failures for statically loaded steel structures as implicitly understood in current regulations and rules for design and execution criteria.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-9

OBJECTIVE The traditional anterior approach for multilevel severe cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is demanding and risky. Recently, a novel surgical procedure—anterior controllable antedisplacement and fusion (ACAF)—was introduced by the authors to deal with these problems and achieve better clinical outcomes. However, to the authors’ knowledge, the immediate and long-term biomechanical stability obtained after this procedure has never been evaluated. Therefore, the authors compared the postoperative biomechanical stability of ACAF with those of more traditional approaches: anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion (ACCF). METHODS To determine and assess pre- and postsurgical range of motion (ROM) (2 Nm torque) in flexion-extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation in the cervical spine, the authors collected cervical areas (C1–T1) from 18 cadaveric spines. The cyclic fatigue loading test was set up with a 3-Nm cycled load (2 Hz, 3000 cycles). All samples used in this study were randomly divided into three groups according to surgical procedures: ACDF, ACAF, and ACCF. The spines were tested under the following conditions: 1) intact state flexibility test; 2) postoperative model (ACDF, ACAF, ACCF) flexibility test; 3) cyclic loading (n = 3000); and 4) fatigue model flexibility test. RESULTS After operations were performed on the cadaveric spines, the segmental and total postoperative ROM values in all directions showed significant reductions for all groups. Then, the ROMs tended to increase during the fatigue test. No significant crossover effect was detected between evaluation time and operation method. Therefore, segmental and total ROM change trends were parallel among the three groups. However, the postoperative and fatigue ROMs in the ACCF group tended to be larger in all directions. No significant differences between these ROMs were detected in the ACDF and ACAF groups. CONCLUSIONS This in vitro biomechanical study demonstrated that the biomechanical stability levels for ACAF and ACDF were similar and were both significantly greater than that of ACCF. The clinical superiority of ACAF combined with our current results showed that this procedure is likely to be an acceptable alternative method for multilevel cervical OPLL treatment.


Author(s):  
Piyush Arora ◽  
Mihir Rajesh Agrawal ◽  
Punish Pal Singh ◽  
N Gobinath ◽  
M Feroskhan

2021 ◽  
pp. 136943322110427
Author(s):  
Ping Zhang ◽  
Song Ren ◽  
Yunfeng Zhao ◽  
Le Wang ◽  
Nengzeng Long ◽  
...  

Concrete structures often undergo both fatigue loading and environmental impacts during their useful lifetime. This study aims to explore the fatigue properties of concrete subjected to sulfate attacks under drying–wetting cycles and loading. The coupled influences of major cycle number and sodium sulfate solution on the residual deformation, elastic modulus, and damage variable were investigated by uniaxial cyclic loading tests. Moreover, the phase composition of concrete samples was examined by X-ray diffraction. Results indicate that the concrete residual deformation and damage variable could be classified into initial and stable stages, while the elastic modulus fluctuated within a certain range. The fatigue strength of concrete was found to increase with an increase in the major cycle number and sodium sulfate concentration in the early stages, whereas the fatigue performance of concrete decreased as the major cycle number and sodium sulfate concentration increased in the later stage. The degree of influence of major cycle number and sodium sulfate concentration on the fatigue properties of concrete differed in each stage. These findings can contribute to understand the variation pattern of concrete properties in complicated environments and provide an important reference for associated construction projects.


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