title: Early stages of bone fracture healing: formation of a fibrin-collagen scaffold in the fracture hematoma.
abstract: This work is concerned with the sequence of events taking place during the first stages of bone fracture healing, from bone breakup until the formation of early fibrous callus (EFC). The latter provides a scaffold over which subsequent remodeling processes will eventually result in successful bone repair. Specifically, some mathematical models are proposed to estimate the time required for (1) the formation immediately after fracture of a fibrin clot, described in terms of a phase transition in a polymerization process, and (2) the onset of EFC which is produced when fibroblasts arising from differentiation of chemotactically recruited mesenchymal stem cells remodel a previous fibrin clot by releasing a collagen matrix over it. An attempt has been made to keep models as simple as possible, so that a explicit dependence of the estimates obtained on relevant biochemical parameters involved is obtained.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Plaza de las Ciencias s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain, lfecheve@mat.ucm.es.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Echeverri
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Herrero
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oleaga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002146:Bony Callus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D005337:Fibrin / Q000378:metabolism; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000378:metabolism; D006406:Hematoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D015539:Platelet Activation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D006133:Growth Substances; D005337:Fibrin; D003094:Collagen