Water in hydroxyapatite nanopores: Possible implications for interstitial bone fluid flow.
The role of bone water in the activity of this organ is essential in structuring apatite crystals, providing pathways for nutrients and waste involved in the metabolism of bone cells and participating in bone remodelling mechanotransduction. It is commonly accepted that bone presents three levels of porosity, namely the vasculature, the lacuno-canalicular system and the voids of the collagen-apatite matrix. Due to the observation of bound state of water at the latter level, the interstitial nanoscopic flow that may exist within these pores is classically neglected. The aim of this paper is to investigate the possibility to obtain a fluid flow at the nanoscale. That is why a molecular dynamics based analysis of a water-hydroxyapatite system is proposed to analyze the effect of water confinement on transport properties. The main result here is that free water can be observed inside hydroxyapatite pores of a few nanometers. This result would have strong implications in the multiscale treatment of the poromechanical behaviour of bone tissue. In particular, the mechanical properties of the bone matrix may be highly controlled by nanoscopic water diffusion and the classical idea that osteocytic activity is only regulated by bone fluid flow within the lacuno-canalicular system may be discussed again.
Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, France; 94010 Créteil cedex, France. Electronic address: thibault.lemaire@univ-paris-est.fr.
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Lemaire
Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, France; 94010 Créteil cedex, France.
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Pham
Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, France; 77454 Marne la Vallée cedex 2, France.
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Capiez-Lernout
Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK.
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de Leeuw
Université Paris-Est, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, France; 94010 Créteil cedex, France.
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Naili
D016723:Bone Remodeling; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D017886:Durapatite / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D058608:Nanopores; D010011:Osteocytes / Q000502:physiology; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
D014867:Water; D003094:Collagen; D017886:Durapatite
Bone water; Hydroxyapatite; Molecular dynamics; Nanofluidics; Slip length; Water self diffusion