Bone Metabolism and Remodeling Simulation at Cancellous Bone Scale

Bone strength is maintained by repeated bone resorption and formation. This metabolic activity is regulated by both biochemical factors, such as intercellular signaling, and mechanical factors, such as mechanosensing by osteocytes. We constructed a mathematical model of bone metabolism considering both biochemical and mechanical factors. In addition, we created a simulation model of cancellous bone based on X-ray micro CT images of a mouse femur. By using the constructed mathematical model and the cancellous bone model, we performed bone metabolism/remodeling simulation for cancellous bone under the same condition as a previous experiment using mice. The cancellous bone structure obtained by the remodeling simulation was quantitatively in agreement with the previous by reported experimental results. Through this comparison, we showed that the constructed simulator has a potential to quantitatively reproduce cancellous bone structure observed in mouse experiments.