title: Bone structural changes in osteoarthritis as a result of mechanoregulated bone adaptation: a modeling approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are strong indications that subchondral bone may play an important role in osteoarthritis (OA), making it an interesting target for medical therapies. The subchondral bone structure changes markedly during OA, and it has long been assumed that this occurs secondary to cartilage degeneration. However, for various conditions that are associated with OA, it is known that they may also induce bone structural changes in the absence of cartilage degeneration. We therefore aimed to investigate if OA bone structural changes can result from mechanoregulated bone adaptation, independent of cartilage degeneration.
  
  
  METHODS
  With a bone adaptation model, we simulated various conditions associated with OA -without altering the articular cartilage- and we evaluated if mechanoregulated bone remodeling by itself could lead to OA-like bone structural changes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For each of the conditions, the predicted changes in bone structural parameters (bone fraction, trabecular thickness, trabecular number, and trabecular separation) were similar to those observed in OA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This indicates that bone adaptation in OA can be mechanoregulated with structural changes occurring independent of cartilage degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L G E
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Rietbergen
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: van Donkelaar
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000465:Algorithms; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D016723:Bone Remodeling / Q000502:physiology*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000473:pathology*