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Updated: Dec 16, 2025

An In Vitro Organ Culture Model of the Murine Intervertebral Disc
Published on: April 11, 2017
Osmo-inelastic response of the intervertebral disc annulus fibrosus tissue
Amil Derrouiche1, Ameni Zaouali2, Fahmi Zaïri1
1Civil Engineering and geo-Environmental Laboratory (ULR 4515 LGCgE), Lille University, Lille, France.
Abstract:
The aim of this article is to provide some insights on the osmo-inelastic response under stretching of annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc. Circumferentially oriented specimens of square cross section, extracted from different regions of bovine cervical discs (ventral-lateral and dorsal-lateral), are tested under different strain-rates and saline concentrations within normal range of strains. An accurate optical strain measuring technique, based upon digital image correlation, is used in order to determine the full-field displacements in the lamellae and fibers planes of the layered soft tissue. Annulus stress-stretch relationships are measured along with full-field transversal strains in the two planes. The mechanical response is found hysteretic, rate-dependent and osmolarity-dependent with a Poisson's ratio higher than 0.5 in the fibers plane and negative (auxeticity) in the lamellae plane. While the stiffness presents a regional-dependency due to variations in collagen fibers content/orientation, the strain-rate sensitivity of the response is found independent on the region. A significant osmotic effect is found on both the auxetic response in the lamellae plane and the stiffness rate-sensitivity. These local experimental observations will result in more accurate chemo-mechanical modeling of the disc annulus and a clearer multi-scale understanding of the disc intervertebral function.
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