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Porcine growth plate experimental study and estimation of human pediatric growth plate properties
Ming Shen1, Shengxiong Liu2, Xin Jin1
1Bioengineering Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
Insights
This study characterized the mechanical properties of growth plates (GPs) in piglets, finding strain rate significantly impacts their modulus and ultimate stress. These findings help estimate pediatric growth plate properties for injury modeling.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Orthopedic Research
- Pediatric Injury Biomechanics
Background:
- Growth plates (GPs) are crucial in immature skeletons and influence injury patterns due to unique mechanical properties.
- Accurate material modeling of pediatric bone requires understanding GP mechanical behavior under various loads.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the material properties of porcine growth plates under tensile and shearing loads.
- To determine the influence of anatomic region and strain rate on GP mechanical properties.
- To establish a conversion factor for estimating 10-year-old child GP properties from piglet data.
Main Methods:
- Tensile and shearing experiments were conducted on 113 porcine bone-GP-bone specimens from different anatomical regions.
- Specimens were tested at various strain rates (0.0053–1.907 s⁻¹ tensile, 0.0085–3.037 s⁻¹ shearing).
- Randomized block ANOVA was used to analyze the effects of region and strain rate; data was compared to human literature.
Main Results:
- Strain rate significantly affected the modulus and ultimate stress in both tensile and shearing tests.
- Ultimate strains were not sensitive to strain rate or region.
- Growth plates in the knee region showed similar properties, distinct from the femoral head GP.
Conclusions:
- Strain rate is a critical factor influencing growth plate mechanical properties.
- A conversion factor was derived to estimate 10-year-old child GP material properties from piglet data.
- Estimated properties can advance pediatric human body modeling and child injury mechanism studies.
Abstract:
Growth plate (GP) is a type of tissue widely found in child's immature skeleton. It may have significant influence on the overall injury pattern since it has distinguishing mechanical properties compared to the surrounding bony tissue. For more accurate material modeling and advanced pediatric human body modeling, it is imperative to investigate the material property of GPs in different loading conditions. In this study, a series of tensile and shearing experiments on porcine bone-GP-bone units were carried out. Total 113 specimens of bone-GP-bone unit from the femoral head, distal femur, and proximal tibia of four 20-weeks-old piglets were tested, under different strain rates (average 0.0053 to 1.907 s-1 for tensile tests, and 0.0085 to 3.037 s-1 for shearing tests). Randomized block ANOVA was conducted to determine the effects of anatomic region and strain rate on the material properties of GPs. It was found that, strain rate is a significant factor for modulus and ultimate stress for both tensile and shearing tests; the ultimate strains are not sensitive to the input factors in both tensile and shearing tests; the GPs at knee region could be grouped due to similar properties, but statistically different from the femoral head GP. Additionally, the tensile test data from the experimental study were comparing to the limited data obtained from tests on human subjects reported in the literature. An optimal conversion factor was derived to correlate the material properties of 20-week-old piglet GPs and 10 YO child GPs. As a result, the estimated material properties of 10 YO child GPs from different regions in different loading conditions became available given the conversion law stays legitimate. These estimated material properties for 10 YO child GPs were reported in the form of tensile and shearing stress-strain curves and could be subsequently utilized for human GP tissue material modeling and child injury mechanism studies.
