UTILIZING AVIAN TRABECULAR GEOMETRY TO OPTIMIZE OSTEOINTEGRATION AND MECHANICAL STABILITY OF HUMAN BONE GRAFTS
Faculty Mentor Name
Chris Torres
Research or Creativity Area
Natural Sciences
Abstract
Bone grafts are an essential component of many clinical applications, ranging from craniofacial reconstruction to complex orthopedic trauma. To be successful, the scaffolds must balance high porosity for maximum vascular invasion while providing structural stability against mechanical stress. Bone graft design balances these two opposing requirements: maximizing the open space between trabecular beams for osteointegration often leads to lower mechanical stability of the graft. My research project explores a novel approach to bone graft design by drawing inspiration from the highly efficient, lightweight, and high-strength trabecular bone structure of birds.
Bird trabecular bone is much more porous than mammal bone, but it is still highly organized and able to handle heavy loads. By using birds as a model for our grafts, I seek to design lattice geometries with superior porosity for healing than those of human bone, while minimizing loss of mechanical strength.
I used the segmentation software Dragonfly to analyze CT scans of avian trabecular bone and extract morphological parameters such as anisotropy, connectivity density, structure model index, trabecular separation, trabecular thickness, cortical thickness, and specific bone surface. I then used these measurements to drive the generation of a 3D printable lattice scaffold using the modeling software nTop. I then simulated the design using Ti-6Al-4V, a titanium alloy commonly used for bone grafting applications. I used finite element analysis (FEA) to subject the simulated model to simulated mechanical forces that the graft would experience in a human mandible. Additionally, I used flow analysis to measure the scaffold’s ability to facilitate fluid, nutrient, and cell transport for osteointegration.
My lattice design demonstrated exceptional performance across biological and mechanical tests. FEA results revealed that the graft maintains stability under standard physiological loading, with deformation levels well within clinical thresholds for successful bone healing. There were only a few minor stress concentrations at specific nodes; the rest of the graft held up against the typical forces experienced by a human mandible. Additionally, the graft achieved an optimal average pore size that would result in highly efficient vascular integration and was able to maintain continuous fluid flow through the entire graft, ensuring total fluid penetration.
My results suggest that mimicking the architecture of avian bone could provide a promising framework for developing next-generation 3D printed dental and orthopedic bone grafts. My approach successfully maintained mechanical stability while optimizing osteointegration and bone healing. One major limitation of my study is that the bone measurements were collected from fossilized bone, the microstructure of which may have been modified during fossilization. Future work will include generating more grafts based on a wider range of animal bone geometries, or even human bone. Also, further validation of the bone graft development will ensure that the results hold in real-life settings, as well as in real patients.
UTILIZING AVIAN TRABECULAR GEOMETRY TO OPTIMIZE OSTEOINTEGRATION AND MECHANICAL STABILITY OF HUMAN BONE GRAFTS
Bone grafts are an essential component of many clinical applications, ranging from craniofacial reconstruction to complex orthopedic trauma. To be successful, the scaffolds must balance high porosity for maximum vascular invasion while providing structural stability against mechanical stress. Bone graft design balances these two opposing requirements: maximizing the open space between trabecular beams for osteointegration often leads to lower mechanical stability of the graft. My research project explores a novel approach to bone graft design by drawing inspiration from the highly efficient, lightweight, and high-strength trabecular bone structure of birds.
Bird trabecular bone is much more porous than mammal bone, but it is still highly organized and able to handle heavy loads. By using birds as a model for our grafts, I seek to design lattice geometries with superior porosity for healing than those of human bone, while minimizing loss of mechanical strength.
I used the segmentation software Dragonfly to analyze CT scans of avian trabecular bone and extract morphological parameters such as anisotropy, connectivity density, structure model index, trabecular separation, trabecular thickness, cortical thickness, and specific bone surface. I then used these measurements to drive the generation of a 3D printable lattice scaffold using the modeling software nTop. I then simulated the design using Ti-6Al-4V, a titanium alloy commonly used for bone grafting applications. I used finite element analysis (FEA) to subject the simulated model to simulated mechanical forces that the graft would experience in a human mandible. Additionally, I used flow analysis to measure the scaffold’s ability to facilitate fluid, nutrient, and cell transport for osteointegration.
My lattice design demonstrated exceptional performance across biological and mechanical tests. FEA results revealed that the graft maintains stability under standard physiological loading, with deformation levels well within clinical thresholds for successful bone healing. There were only a few minor stress concentrations at specific nodes; the rest of the graft held up against the typical forces experienced by a human mandible. Additionally, the graft achieved an optimal average pore size that would result in highly efficient vascular integration and was able to maintain continuous fluid flow through the entire graft, ensuring total fluid penetration.
My results suggest that mimicking the architecture of avian bone could provide a promising framework for developing next-generation 3D printed dental and orthopedic bone grafts. My approach successfully maintained mechanical stability while optimizing osteointegration and bone healing. One major limitation of my study is that the bone measurements were collected from fossilized bone, the microstructure of which may have been modified during fossilization. Future work will include generating more grafts based on a wider range of animal bone geometries, or even human bone. Also, further validation of the bone graft development will ensure that the results hold in real-life settings, as well as in real patients.
