PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Esther Wehrle
AU  - Graeme R Paul
AU  - Duncan C Tourolle né Betts
AU  - Gisela A Kuhn
AU  - Ralph Müller
TI  - Individualized cyclic mechanical loading improves callus properties during the remodelling phase of fracture healing in mice as assessed from time-lapsed <em>in vivo</em> imaging
AID  - 10.1101/2020.09.15.297861
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.09.15.297861
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/19/2020.09.15.297861.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/09/19/2020.09.15.297861.full
AB  - Fracture healing is regulated by mechanical loading. Understanding the underlying mechanisms during the different healing phases is required for targeted mechanical intervention therapies. Here, the influence of individualized cyclic mechanical loading on the remodelling phase of fracture healing was assessed in a mouse femur defect model. After bridging of the defect, a loading group (n=10) received individualized cyclic mechanical loading (8-16 N, 10 Hz, 5 min, 3x/week) based on computed strain distribution in the callus using animal-specific real-time micro-finite element analysis. Controls (n=10) received 0 N treatment at the same post-operative time-points. By registration of consecutive scans, structural and dynamic callus morphometric parameters were followed in three callus sub-volumes and the adjacent cortex showing that the remodelling phase of fracture healing is highly responsive to cyclic mechanical loading with changes in dynamic parameters leading to significantly larger callus formation and mineralization. Loading-mediated maintenance of callus remodelling was associated with distinct effects on Wnt-signalling-associated molecular targets Sclerostin and RANKL in callus sub-regions and the adjacent cortex. Given these distinct local protein expression patterns induced by cyclic mechanical loading, the femur defect loading model with individualized load application seems suitable to understand the local spatio-temporal mechano-molecular regulation of the different fracture healing phases.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.