Project Details
Projekt
Cellular and molecular context of cartilage adjacent subchondral bone (CASB) microstructure
Applicant
Professor Dr. Arndt Friedrich Schilling
Subject Area
Orthopaedics, Traumatology, Reconstructive Surgery
Term
from 2016 to 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 277277765
In the first part of ExCarBon we have described and quantified the CASB microstructure in aging and disease in unprecedented resolution. We could show that the microstructure changes with age, location and disease state. However, the reasons for the emergence of these specific structural changes and how they influence the surrounding tissue so far remain elusive. Consequently, in the second phase of ExCarBon, we aim to study this structure in more detail. For this we first aim to reveal the cellular and molecular content of the microchannels. Hypothetical contents (and their respective function) include bone/cartilage cells (bone remodeling), arterioles (supply), venules (waste disposition), nerves (sensing, cooperation SP 4,8), lymph vessels (fluid transport, immune system, cooperation SP6), connective tissue, uncalcified cartilage, mesenchymal tissue. In cooperation with SP1 and SP3 we aim to study if the different microarchitectures are mirrored by changes in cartilage biomechanics and expression of miRNA described in the first phase of ExCarbon are correlated with structural alteration of the CASB. High-energy synchrotron imaging (beamtime at the Canadian light source, Saskatoon, Canada already granted in a separate application) will allow us to study bigger samples at the same high resolution and will therefore enable us to spatialize the orientation of the microchannels in respect to the gross anatomy. Furthermore, we will characterise the (sub)micro-structure of CASB changes in other human joints and in novel animal models of the cooperation partners (SP1,2,4,7,8) and will aim to measure 3D-fluid diffusion and flow through the different micro/nano-structures of the CASB under mechanical compression.
DFG Programme
Research Units
