Accounting for mechanobiology to model and treat osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis, a disease of the articular joints, results in cartilage degeneration. While the greatest impacts are seen in the cartilage because that material does not have a great capacity for self-repair, the disease is also closely tied to the underlying bone.

Modeling the joint system of cartilage and bone is difficult to do in the laboratory, and important questions about the disease remain, such as the role of inflammation in inhibiting cartilage repair. Accurate models could answer this question and help develop and test new drugs and therapeutics.

Hodgkinson et al. reviewed the current understanding of healthy and arthritic joints, as well as recent advancements in their modeling. The team emphasized the importance of including factors like inflammation, fluid flow, and mechanical stresses and strains in joint models.

“By replicating those facets, we can begin to make more progress and understand more about osteoarthritis,” said author Fergal J. O’Brien. “The major focus in the article is on mechanobiology, which is the role of the mechanical environment in directing biological responses. We want to know how alterations in mechanical signaling lead to changes in terms of cellular response and progression of osteoarthritis.”

New advanced manufacturing techniques like 3D printing could improve models further by mimicking the heterogeneity in joints. The researchers believe messenger RNA and other types of gene therapies also have major potential to help with the understanding and treatment of osteoarthritis.

Additionally, the scientists think these mechanobiological modeling techniques could be extendable to other diseases. Cancer also changes the local mechanical environment in the body and including that pronounced effect in models of the condition could help with treatment.

Source: “The role of mechanobiology in bone and cartilage model systems in characterizing initiation and progression of osteoarthritis,” by Tom Hodgkinson, Isabel N. Amado, Fergal J. O’Brien, and Oran D. Kennedy, APL Bioengineering (2021). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0068277 .