TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of compressive modulus, hydraulic permeability and matrix content of trypsin-treated nucleus pulposus using quantitative MRI
AU - Périé, D.
AU - Iatridis, J. C.
AU - Demers, C. N.
AU - Goswami, T.
AU - Beaudoin, G.
AU - Mwale, F.
AU - Antoniou, J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by grants from the NIH (K01AR02078), the Whitaker Foundation, the AO Foundation Switzerland and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - A clinical strength MRI and intact bovine caudal intervertebral discs were used to test the hypotheses that (1) mechanical loading and trypsin treatment induce changes in NMR parameters, mechanical properties and biochemical contents; and (2) mechanical properties are quantitatively related to NMR parameters. MRI acquisitions, confined compression stress-relaxation experiments, and biochemical assays were applied to determine the NMR parameters (relaxation times T 1 and T 2, magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and diffusion trace (TrD)), mechanical properties (compressive modulus HA 0 and hydraulic permeability k0), and biochemical contents (H2O, proteoglycan and total collagen) of nucleus pulposus tissue from bovine caudal discs subjected to one of two injections and one of two mechanical loading conditions. Significant correlations were found between k0 and T 1 ( r = 0.75, p = 0.03), T 2 ( r = 0.78, p = 0.02), and TrD ( r = 0.85, p = 0.007). A trend was found between HA 0 and TrD ( r = 0.56, p = 0.12). However, loading decreased these correlations ( r {less-than or slanted equal to} 0.4, p {greater than or slanted equal to} 0.2). The significant effect of trypsin treatment on mechanical properties, but not on NMR parameters, may suggest that mechanical properties are more sensitive to the structural changes induced by trypsin treatment. The significant effect of loading on T 1 and T 2, but not on HA 0 or k0, may suggest that NMR parameters are more sensitive to the changes in water content enhanced by loading. We conclude that MRI offers promise as a sensitive and non-invasive technique for describing alterations in material properties of intervertebral disc nucleus, and our results demonstrate that the hydraulic permeability correlated more strongly to the quantitative NMR parameters than did the compressive modulus; however, more studies are necessary to more precisely characterize these relationships.
AB - A clinical strength MRI and intact bovine caudal intervertebral discs were used to test the hypotheses that (1) mechanical loading and trypsin treatment induce changes in NMR parameters, mechanical properties and biochemical contents; and (2) mechanical properties are quantitatively related to NMR parameters. MRI acquisitions, confined compression stress-relaxation experiments, and biochemical assays were applied to determine the NMR parameters (relaxation times T 1 and T 2, magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and diffusion trace (TrD)), mechanical properties (compressive modulus HA 0 and hydraulic permeability k0), and biochemical contents (H2O, proteoglycan and total collagen) of nucleus pulposus tissue from bovine caudal discs subjected to one of two injections and one of two mechanical loading conditions. Significant correlations were found between k0 and T 1 ( r = 0.75, p = 0.03), T 2 ( r = 0.78, p = 0.02), and TrD ( r = 0.85, p = 0.007). A trend was found between HA 0 and TrD ( r = 0.56, p = 0.12). However, loading decreased these correlations ( r {less-than or slanted equal to} 0.4, p {greater than or slanted equal to} 0.2). The significant effect of trypsin treatment on mechanical properties, but not on NMR parameters, may suggest that mechanical properties are more sensitive to the structural changes induced by trypsin treatment. The significant effect of loading on T 1 and T 2, but not on HA 0 or k0, may suggest that NMR parameters are more sensitive to the changes in water content enhanced by loading. We conclude that MRI offers promise as a sensitive and non-invasive technique for describing alterations in material properties of intervertebral disc nucleus, and our results demonstrate that the hydraulic permeability correlated more strongly to the quantitative NMR parameters than did the compressive modulus; however, more studies are necessary to more precisely characterize these relationships.
KW - Confined compression
KW - Correlations
KW - Diffusion
KW - Mechanical properties
KW - Nucleus pulposus
KW - Quantitative MRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33646410091&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2005.04.015
DO - 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2005.04.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 15970200
AN - SCOPUS:33646410091
SN - 0021-9290
VL - 39
SP - 1392
EP - 1400
JO - Journal of Biomechanics
JF - Journal of Biomechanics
IS - 8
ER -