Participant-specific and Generic Poromechanical Modelling of the Knee Joints

你知道吗，当你从一个跳跃到地面时，你的膝盖软骨和膝关节中的液体至少支撑了你膝盖60%的冲击力？随着液体从组织中流出，液体压力降低，如果您之后静止不动，您的膝关节将发生更多组织变形。由于软骨没有血管，所以软骨液也能满足生命所必需的代谢功能。我的团队开发计算模型，以了解流体压力和流量在膝关节机械功能和组织代谢中的作用。人类的膝盖是一个活的机制，包括关节软骨和关节软骨，其中包含65-80%的流体，在膝盖压缩下产生流体压力和流动。计算机膝关节模型可用于解释膝关节的正常功能以及膝关节运动损伤和手术的后果。拟议的研究能够通过两个方面取得进展：（1）确定膝关节软骨和关节软骨中的流体压力和流量在负荷传递和组织代谢中的作用;（2）将从个人获得的研究结果扩展到大群体。例如，膝关节生物力学的新知识将有助于设计运动策略，以减缓膝关节软骨的老化过程。一个强大的膝盖模型也可以用于开发下一代人形机器人。我的团队开创了膝关节流体诱导力学的研究，特别是多孔力学，使用标本或参与者特定的建模：我们的模型是建立在猪标本或人类参与者的膝关节解剖结构上。新鲜的猪膝盖被用来帮助模型开发和减少参与者的使用。这是我的研究的创新特点，因为软骨和半月板中的流体压力和流动的知识可能有助于组织工程。为了将研究成果扩展到不同的人群，我们将为每个亚群开发一个通用的膝关节模型，用于预测数百万人的膝关节生物力学。通用模型将使用来自公共数据库的各种膝关节轮廓的参数从参与者特定模型修改而来，代表目标人群。通过这种方法，通用模型将能够预测亚群体而不是少数参与者的生物力学行为。通用模型可以更好地实现普遍理解，这将促进实际应用。这项研究将提供经过充分测试的建模方法，并免费向公众提供样本通用模型，用于纯研究目的或临床应用。通用模型可用于预测目标人群正常和受损膝关节的生物力学，而参与者特定模型可用于辅助设计患者特定植入物。

Did you know that the fluid in your knee cartilages and menisci supports at least 60% of the impact force to your knees when you land to the ground from a jump? The fluid pressure is reduced with fluid flowing out of the tissues and more tissue deformation in your knee will be developed if you stand still afterwards. The fluid also fulfills the life-essential metabolic functions, because cartilage has no blood vessels. My team develops computational models to understand the roles of fluid pressure and flow in the mechanical function and tissue metabolism of the knee. The human knee is a living mechanism that includes articular cartilages and menisci, which contain 65-80% fluid that produces fluid pressure and flow under knee compression. Computer knee models can be used to interpret the normal function of the knee and the consequences of sports injury and surgery on the knee. The proposed research enables advances through two aspects: (1) to determine the roles of the fluid pressure and flow in knee cartilages and menisci in load transmission and tissue metabolism; and (2) to extend research results obtained from individuals to a large population. As one example, new knowledge in knee biomechanics will facilitate the design of exercise strategies to slow down the aging process in knee cartilage. A robust knee model can also be used in developing next-generation humanoid robots. My team has pioneered the study of fluid-induced mechanics of the knee, specifically poromechanics, using specimen- or participant-specific modelling: our models are built on the knee anatomy of pig specimens or human participants. Fresh pig knees are used to aid model development and reduce the use of participants. This has been the innovative feature of my research as knowledge of fluid pressure and flow in cartilage and meniscus may aid tissue engineering. In order to extend research outcomes to a diverse population, we will develop one generic knee model for each sub-population that will be used to potentially predict the knee biomechanics for millions of people. The generic model will be modified from a participant-specific model using parameters derived from a variety of knee profiles from public databases, representing the targeted population. With this approach the generic model will enable predicting biomechanical behaviour for a sub-population rather than a few participants. A universal understanding may be better achieved with generic models, which will promote practical applications. This research will deliver fully tested modelling methods and sample generic models freely available to the public for pure research purposes or clinical applications. The generic models can be used to predict the biomechanics of normal and impaired knees for targeted populations, while the participant-specific models could be adapted to aid the design of patient-specific implants.