Computational assessment on the impact of collagen fiber orientation in cartilages on healthy and arthritic knee kinetics/kinematics

Background

The inhomogeneous distribution of collagen fiber in cartilage can substantially influence the knee kinematics. This becomes vital for understanding the mechanical response of soft tissues, and cartilage deterioration including osteoarthritis (OA). Though the conventional computational models consider geometrical heterogeneity along with fiber reinforcements in the cartilage model as material heterogeneity, the influence of fiber orientation on knee kinetics and kinematics is not fully explored. This work examines how the collagen fiber orientation in the cartilage affects the healthy (intact knee) and arthritic knee response over multiple gait activities like running and walking.

Methods

A 3D finite element knee joint model is used to compute the articular cartilage response during the gait cycle. A fiber-reinforced porous hyper elastic (FRPHE) material is used to model the soft tissue. A split-line pattern is used to implement the fiber orientation in femoral and tibial cartilage. Four distinct intact cartilage models and three OA models are simulated to assess the impact of the orientation of collagen fibers in a depth wise direction. The cartilage models with fibers oriented in parallel, perpendicular, and inclined to the articular surface are investigated for multiple knee kinematics and kinetics.

Findings

The comparison of models with fiber orientation parallel to articulating surface for walking and running gait has the highest elastic stress and fluid pressure compared with inclined and perpendicular fiber-oriented models. Also, the maximum contact pressure is observed to be higher in the case of intact models during the walking cycle than for OA models. In contrast, the maximum contact pressure is higher during running in OA models than in intact models. Additionally, parallel-oriented models produce higher maximum stresses and fluid pressure for walking and running gait than proximal-distal-oriented models. Interestingly, during the walking cycle, the maximum contact pressure with intact models is approximately three times higher than on OA models. In contrast, the OA models exhibit higher contact pressure during the running cycle.

Interpretation

Overall, the study indicates that collagen orientation is crucial for tissue responsiveness. This investigation provides insights into the development of tailored implants.