Modeling Complex Orthopedic Trauma in Rodents: Bone, Muscle and Nerve Injury and Healing

Orthopedic injury can occur from a variety of causes including motor vehicle collision, battlefield injuries or even falls from standing. Persistent limb pain is common after orthopedic injury or surgery and presents a unique challenge, as the initiating event may result in polytrauma to bone, muscle, and peripheral nerves. It is imperative that we understand the tissue-specific and multicellular response to this unique type of injury in order to best develop targeted treatments that improve healing and regeneration. In this Mini Review we will first discuss current rodent models of orthopedic trauma/complex orthotrauma. In the second section, we will focus on bone-specific outcomes including imaging modalities, biomechanical testing and immunostaining for markers of bone healing/turnover. In the third section, we will discuss muscle-related pathology including outcome measures of fibrosis, muscle regeneration and tensile strength measurements. In the fourth section, we will discuss nervous system-related pathology including outcome measures of pain-like responses, both reflexive and non-reflexive. In all sections we will consider parallels between preclinical outcome measures and the functional and mechanistic findings of the human condition.