ERI: Reimagining the Use of Animal Models in Musculoskeletal Research

Clarkson University, Potsdam NY

Investigators

Abstract

Animal subjects are frequently used as substitutes for humans in biomechanics research studies. This is typically justified by low variability between animal subjects, low cost, and high biological similarity across species. While the biology of animal tissues, such as cartilage and ligaments, has been studied extensively, little is often known about the forces acting on them during normal activity. This study will leverage the fact that some animal tissues are subjected to much narrower ranges of loading than those of humans to draw connections between load and tissue structure. This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) project will examine the loads acting on different discs in the bovine tail throughout the day through a combination of live-animal motion tracking and computer modeling. This work will establish animal models as ideal systems for studying the interplay between mechanics and biology. Results of this research will reduce the societal burden of low back pain by contributing to patient-specific models, which will be able to determine whether a change in load pattern, such as change in occupation. This work will be presented to both adult citizen scientists through the local community-based science café series and to young scientists through an annual university-hosted science and engineering fair. This project is to examine bovine caudal intervertebral discs to understand the relationship between the tissue structure and in-vivo loading history. In-vivo loading had been a critical limitation in the ability to study the process of tissue remodeling in response to load. This study will focus on the bovine caudal intervertebral disc, which is loaded only in dorsal extension and lateral bending and is a frequently used model of the more complexly loaded human lumbar disc. Live-animal motion tracking will be combined with numerical modeling to estimate multi-axial load magnitudes on all discs in the tail over the course of a typical day. Microstructural imaging will be used to quantify the distribution of residual strain development in each disc. Microscopic analysis will be used to compare tissue structure between these discs. The results of this work will be used to build patient-specific computer models of the human spine, which will be able to determine whether a change in load pattern, such as change in occupation. Together, these studies will draw a direct link between load and residual strain, which will enable future patient-specific models of the human lumbar spine with a goal of predicting injury risk from activities of daily living. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.