Fibril deformation under load of the rabbit Achilles tendon and medial collateral ligament femoral entheses

Compositional, Structural, and Biomechanical Properties of Three Different Soft Tissue-Hard Tissue Insertions: A Comparative Review

Connective tissue attaches to bone across an insertion with spatial gradients in components, microstructure, and biomechanics. Due to regional stress concentrations between two mechanically dissimilar materials, the insertion is vulnerable to mechanical damage during joint movements and difficult to repair completely, which remains a significant clinical challenge. Despite interface stress concentrations, the native insertion physiologically functions as the effective load-transfer device between soft tissue and bone. This review summarizes tendon, ligament, and meniscus insertions cross-sectionally, which is novel in this field. Herein, the similarities and differences between the three kinds of insertions in terms of components, microstructure, and biomechanics are compared in great detail. This review begins with describing the basic components existing in the four zones (original soft tissue, uncalcified fibrocartilage, calcified fibrocartilage, and bone) of each kind of insertion, respectively. It then discusses the microstructure constructed from collagen, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), minerals and others, which provides key support for the biomechanical properties and affects its physiological functions. Finally, the review continues by describing variations in mechanical properties at the millimeter, micrometer, and nanometer scale, which minimize stress concentrations and control stretch at the insertion. In summary, investigating the contrasts between the three has enlightening significance for future directions of repair strategies of insertion diseases and for bioinspired approaches to effective soft-hard interfaces and other tough and robust materials in medicine and engineering.

Structural and functional heterogeneity of mineralized fibrocartilage at the Achilles tendon-bone insertion

A demanding task of the musculoskeletal system is the attachment of tendon to bone at entheses. This region often presents a thin layer of fibrocartilage (FC), mineralized close to the bone and unmineralized close to the tendon. Mineralized FC deserves increased attention, owing to its crucial anchoring task and involvement in enthesis pathologies. Here, we analyzed mineralized FC and subchondral bone at the Achilles tendon-bone insertion of rats. This location features enthesis FC anchoring tendon to bone and sustaining tensile loads, and periosteal FC facilitating bone-tendon sliding with accompanying compressive and shear forces. Using a correlative multimodal investigation, we evaluated potential specificities in mineral content, fiber organization and mechanical properties of enthesis and periosteal FC. Both tissues had a lower degree of mineralization than subchondral bone, yet used the available mineral very efficiently: for the same local mineral content, they had higher stiffness and hardness than bone. We found that enthesis FC was characterized by highly aligned mineralized collagen fibers even far away from the attachment region, whereas periosteal FC had a rich variety of fiber arrangements. Except for an initial steep spatial gradient between unmineralized and mineralized FC, local mechanical properties were surprisingly uniform inside enthesis FC while a modulation in stiffness, independent from mineral content, was observed in periosteal FC. We interpreted these different structure-property relationships as a demonstration of the high versatility of FC, providing high strength at the insertion (to resist tensile loading) and a gradual compliance at the periosteal surface (to resist contact stresses). STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Mineralized fibrocartilage (FC) at entheses facilitates the integration of tendon in bone, two strongly dissimilar tissues. We focus on the structure-function relationships of two types of mineralized FC, enthesis and periosteal, which have clearly distinct mechanical demands. By investigating them with multiple high-resolution methods in a correlative manner, we demonstrate differences in fiber architecture and mechanical properties between the two tissues, indicative of their mechanical roles. Our results are relevant both from a medical viewpoint, targeting a clinically relevant location, as well as from a material science perspective, identifying FC as high-performance versatile composite.

Fatigue-driven compliance increase and collagen unravelling in mechanically tested anterior cruciate ligament

Approximately 300,000 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears occur annually in the United States, half of which lead to the onset of knee osteoarthritis within 10 years of injury. Repetitive loading is known to result in fatigue damage of both ligament and tendon in the form of collagen unravelling, which can lead to structural failure. However, the relationship between tissue's structural, compositional, and mechanical changes are poorly understood. Herein we show that repetitive submaximal loading of cadaver knees causes an increase in co-localised induction of collagen unravelling and tissue compliance, especially in regions of greater mineralisation at the ACL femoral enthesis. Upon 100 cycles of 4× bodyweight knee loading, the ACL exhibited greater unravelled collagen in highly mineralized regions across varying levels of stiffness domains as compared to unloaded controls. A decrease in the total area of the most rigid domain, and an increase in the total area of the most compliant domain was also found. The results highlight fatigue-driven changes in both protein structure and mechanics in the more mineralized regions of the ACL enthesis, a known site of clinical ACL failure. The results provide a starting point for designing studies to limit ligament overuse injury.

Optimizing repair of tendon ruptures and chronic tendinopathies: Integrating the use of biomarkers with biological interventions to improve patient outcomes and clinical trial design

Tendons are dense connective tissues of the musculoskeletal system that link bones with muscles to foster mobility. They have complex structures and exist in varying biomechanical, metabolic and biological environments. In addition, tendon composition and mechanical properties can change over the lifespan as an individual ages. Many tendons function in high stress conditions with a low vascular and neuronal supply, conditions often leading to development of chronic tendinopathies, and in some cases, overt rupture of the tissues. Given their essential nature for human mobility and navigation through the environment, the effective repair and regeneration of different tendons after injury or damage is critical for quality of life, and for elite athletes, the return to sport participation at a high level. However, for mainly unknown reasons, the outcomes following injury are not always successful and lead to functional compromise and risk for re-injury. Thus, there is a need to identify those patients who are at risk for developing tendon problems, as well those at risk for poor outcomes after injury and to design interventions to improve outcomes after injury or rupture to specific tendons. This review will discuss recent advances in the identification of biomarkers prognostic for successful and less successful outcomes after tendon injury, and the mechanistic implications of such biomarkers, as well as the potential for specific biologic interventions to enhance outcomes to improve both quality of life and a return to participation in sports. In addition, the implication of these biomarkers for clinical trial design is discussed, as is the issue of whether such biomarkers for successful healing of one tendon can be extended to all tendons or are valid only for tendons in specific biomechanical and biological environments. As maintaining an active lifestyle is critical for health, the successful implementation of these advances will benefit the large number of individuals at risk.

Rational Design of Soft-Hard Interfaces through Bioinspired Engineering

Soft-hard tissue interfaces in nature present a diversity of hierarchical transitions in composition and structure to address the challenge of stress concentrations that would otherwise arise at their interface. The translation of these into engineered materials holds promise for improved function of biomedical interfaces. Here, soft-hard tissue interfaces found in the body in health and disease, and the application of the diverse, functionally graded, and hierarchical structures that they present to bioinspired engineering materials are reviewed. A range of such bioinspired engineering materials and associated manufacturing technologies that are on the horizon in interfacial tissue engineering, hydrogel bioadhesion at the interfaces, and healthcare and medical devices are described.

Creating an Optimal In Vivo Environment to Enhance Outcomes Using Cell Therapy to Repair/Regenerate Injured Tissues of the Musculoskeletal System

Following most injuries to a musculoskeletal tissue which function in unique mechanical environments, an inflammatory response occurs to facilitate endogenous repair. This is a process that usually yields functionally inferior scar tissue. In the case of such injuries occurring in adults, the injury environment no longer expresses the anabolic processes that contributed to growth and maturation. An injury can also contribute to the development of a degenerative process, such as osteoarthritis. Over the past several years, researchers have attempted to use cellular therapies to enhance the repair and regeneration of injured tissues, including Platelet-rich Plasma and mesenchymal stem/medicinal signaling cells (MSC) from a variety of tissue sources, either as free MSC or incorporated into tissue engineered constructs, to facilitate regeneration of such damaged tissues. The use of free MSC can sometimes affect pain symptoms associated with conditions such as OA, but regeneration of damaged tissues has been challenging, particularly as some of these tissues have very complex structures. Therefore, implanting MSC or engineered constructs into an inflammatory environment in an adult may compromise the potential of the cells to facilitate regeneration, and neutralizing the inflammatory environment and enhancing the anabolic environment may be required for MSC-based interventions to fulfill their potential. Thus, success may depend on first eliminating negative influences (e.g., inflammation) in an environment, and secondly, implanting optimally cultured MSC or tissue engineered constructs into an anabolic environment to achieve the best outcomes. Furthermore, such interventions should be considered early rather than later on in a disease process, at a time when sufficient endogenous cells remain to serve as a template for repair and regeneration. This review discusses how the interface between inflammation and cell-based regeneration of damaged tissues may be at odds, and outlines approaches to improve outcomes. In addition, other variables that could contribute to the success of cell therapies are discussed. Thus, there may be a need to adopt a Precision Medicine approach to optimize tissue repair and regeneration following injury to these important tissues.

Perspective: Challenges Presented for Regeneration of Heterogeneous Musculoskeletal Tissues that Normally Develop in Unique Biomechanical Environments

Perspective: Musculoskeletal (MSK) tissues such as articular cartilage, menisci, tendons, and ligaments are often injured throughout life as a consequence of accidents. Joints can also become compromised due to the presence of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, there is a need to develop regenerative approaches to address such injuries to heterogeneous tissues and ones that occur in heterogeneous environments. Such injuries can compromise both the biomechanical integrity and functional capability of these tissues. Thus, there are several challenges to overcome in order to enhance success of efforts to repair and regenerate damaged MSK tissues.

Challenges: 1. MSK tissues arise during development in very different biological and biomechanical environments. These early tissues serve as a template to address the biomechanical requirements evolving during growth and maturation towards skeletal maturity. Many of these tissues are heterogeneous and have transition points in their matrix. The heterogeneity of environments thus presents a challenge to replicate with regard to both the cells and the ECM. 2. Growth and maturation of musculoskeletal tissues occurs in the presence of anabolic mediators such as growth hormone and the IGF-1 family of proteins which decline with age and are low when there is a greater need for the repair and regeneration of injured or damaged tissues with advancing age. Thus, there is the challenge of re-creating an anabolic environment to enhance incorporation of implanted constructs. 3. The environments associated with injury or chronic degeneration of tissues are often catabolic or inflammatory. Thus, there is the challenge of creating a more favorable in vivo environment to facilitate the successful implantation of in vitro engineered constructs to regenerate damaged tissues.

Conclusions: The goal of regenerating MSK tissues has to be to meet not only the biological requirements (components and structure) but also the heterogeneity of function (biomechanics) in vivo. Furthermore, for many of these tissues, the regenerative approach has to overcome the site of injury being influenced by catabolism/inflammation. Attempts to date using both endogenous cells, exogenous cells and scaffolds of various types have been limited in achieving long term outcomes, but progress is being made.

Local anisotropy in mineralized fibrocartilage and subchondral bone beneath the tendon-bone interface

The enthesis allows the insertion of tendon into bone thanks to several remarkable strategies. This complex and clinically relevant location often features a thin layer of fibrocartilage sandwiched between tendon and bone to cope with a highly heterogeneous mechanical environment. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether mineralized fibrocartilage and bone close to the enthesis show distinctive three-dimensional microstructural features, possibly to enable load transfer from tendon to bone. As a model, the Achilles tendon-calcaneus bone system of adult rats was investigated with histology, backscattered electron imaging and micro-computed tomography. The microstructural porosity of bone and mineralized fibrocartilage in different locations including enthesis fibrocartilage, periosteal fibrocartilage and bone away from the enthesis was characterized. We showed that calcaneus bone presents a dedicated protrusion of low porosity where the tendon inserts. A spatially resolved analysis of the trabecular network suggests that such protrusion may promote force flow from the tendon to the plantar ligament, while partially relieving the trabecular bone from such a task. Focusing on the tuberosity, highly specific microstructural aspects were highlighted. Firstly, the interface between mineralized and unmineralized fibrocartilage showed the highest roughness at the tuberosity, possibly to increase failure resistance of a region carrying large stresses. Secondly, fibrochondrocyte lacunae inside mineralized fibrocartilage, in analogy with osteocyte lacunae in bone, had a predominant alignment at the enthesis and a rather random organization away from it. Finally, the network of subchondral channels inside the tuberosity was highly anisotropic when compared to contiguous regions. This dual anisotropy of subchondral channels and cell lacunae at the insertion may reflect the alignment of the underlying collagen network. Our findings suggest that the microstructure of fibrocartilage may be linked with the loading environment. Future studies should characterize those microstructural aspects in aged and or diseased conditions to elucidate the poorly understood role of bone and fibrocartilage in enthesis-related pathologies.

Joining soft tissues to bone: Insights from modeling and simulations

Entheses are complex multi-tissue regions of the musculoskeletal system serving the challenging task of connecting highly dissimilar materials such as the compliant tendon to the much stiffer bone, over a very small region. The first aim of this review is to highlight mathematical and computational models that have been developed to investigate the many attachment strategies present at entheses at different length scales. Entheses are also relevant in the medical context due to the high prevalence of orthopedic injuries requiring the reattachment of tendons or ligaments to bone, which are associated with a rather poor long-term clinical outcome. The second aim of the review is to report on the computational works analyzing the whole tendon to bone complex as well as targeting orthopedic relevant issues. Modeling approaches have provided important insights on anchoring mechanisms and surgical repair strategies, that would not have been revealed with experiments alone. We intend to demonstrate the necessity of including, in future models, an enriched description of enthesis biomechanical behavior in order to unravel additional mechanical cues underlying the development, the functioning and the maintaining of such a complex biological interface as well as to enhance the development of novel biomimetic adhesive, attachment procedures or tissue engineered implants.

The effects of posterior cruciate ligament rupture on the biomechanical and histological characteristics of the medial collateral ligament: an animal study

Background

To investigate the effect of complete rupture of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) on the biomechanics and histology of the medial collateral ligament (MCL).

Materials and methods

Seventy-two male rabbits were randomly divided into two groups: the ruptured group was treated with complete PCL amputation, while the intact group was only subjected to PCL exposure without amputation. Eighteen rabbits were randomly sacrificed at 8, 16, 24, and 40 weeks after the operation, and their specimens were processed for mechanical tensile testing, nano-indentation experiments, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and picrosirius-polarization staining.

Results

There was no significant difference in the length and maximum displacement of the MCL between the ruptured group and the intact group at each time point. The maximum load of the ruptured group was significantly smaller than that of the intact group at 40 W. The elastic modulus and micro-hardness of the ruptured group increased significantly at 24 W and decreased significantly at 40 W. At 16 W and 24 W after PCL rupture, the number of type I collagen fibers and type III collagen fibers in the MCL of the ruptured group was significantly increased compared with that of the intact group. While the type I collagen fibers of the ruptured group were significantly decreased compared with the intact group at 40 W, there was no significant difference in type III collagen fibers between the ruptured group and the intact group.

Conclusion

PCL rupture has no significant effect on the mechanical and histological properties of MCL in a short period of time under physiological loading, but the histological and mechanical properties of MCL decrease with time.