Investigation of bone resorption within a cortical basic multicellular unit using a lattice-based computational model

TL;DR

This study presents a lattice-based computational model of bone resorption within a cortical BMU, highlighting how cellular interactions and biological processes influence cavity morphology and osteoclast behavior, aligning with observed microCT images.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel lattice-based model that incorporates multiple biological interactions affecting bone resorption cavity development.

Findings

Resorption cavity shapes can be accurately reproduced by the model.

Cellular interactions significantly influence osteoclast trajectories.

Model results align with microCT imaging observations.

Abstract

In this paper we develop a lattice-based computational model focused on bone resorption by osteoclasts in a single cortical basic multicellular unit (BMU). Our model takes into account the interaction of osteoclasts with the bone matrix, the interaction of osteoclasts with each other, the generation of osteoclasts from a growing blood vessel, and the renewal of osteoclast nuclei by cell fusion. All these features are shown to strongly influence the geometrical properties of the developing resorption cavity including its size, shape and progression rate, and are also shown to influence the distribution, resorption pattern and trajectories of individual osteoclasts within the BMU. We demonstrate that for certain parameter combinations, resorption cavity shapes can be recovered from the computational model that closely resemble resorption cavity shapes observed from microCT imaging of human cortical bone.