TY - JOUR
T1 - Biomechanical effect of age-related structural changes on cervical intervertebral disc
T2 - A finite element study
AU - Zeng, Hui-Zi
AU - Zheng, Liang-Dong
AU - Xu, Meng-Lei
AU - Zhu, Shi Jie
AU - Zhou, Liang
AU - Candito, Antonio
AU - Wu, Tao
AU - Zhu, Rui
AU - Chen, Yuhang
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFC2008703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82072228), and the Foundation of three-year action plan for Key Discipline Construction Project of Shanghai Public Health System Construction (No. GWV-10.1-XK05). Hui-zi Zeng and Liang-dong Zheng contribute equally to this paper. The authors also acknowledge the funding from British Council—Newton Fund (UK-China Joint Research and Innovation Partnership Fund—440004097).
Publisher Copyright:
© IMechE 2022.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Previous literature has investigated the biomechanical response of healthy and degenerative discs, but the biomechanical response of suboptimal healthy intervertebral discs received less attention. The purpose was to compare the biomechanical responses and risk of herniation of young healthy, suboptimal healthy, and degenerative intervertebral discs. A cervical spine model was established and validated using the finite element method. Suboptimal healthy, mildly, moderately, and severely degenerative disc models were developed. Disc height deformation, range of motion, intradiscal pressure, and von Mises stress in annulus fibrosus were analyzed by applying a moment of 4 Nm in flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation with 100 N compressive loads. Disc height deformation in young healthy, suboptimal healthy, mildly, moderately, and severely degenerative discs was 40%, 37%, 21%, 12%, and 8%, respectively. The decreasing order of the range of motion was young healthy spine > suboptimal healthy spine > mildly degenerative spine > moderately degenerative spine > severely degenerative spine. The mean stress of annulus ground substance in the suboptimal healthy disc was higher than in the young healthy disc. The mean stress of inter-lamellar matrix and annulus ground substance in moderately and severely degenerative discs was higher than in other discs. Age-related structural changes and degenerative changes increased the stiffness and reduced the elastic deformation of intervertebral discs. Decreased range of motion due to the effects of aging or degeneration on the intervertebral disc, may cause compensation of adjacent segments and lead to progressive degeneration of multiple segments. The effect of aging on the intervertebral disc increased the risk of annulus fibrosus damage from the biomechanical point of view. Moderately and severely degenerative discs may have a higher risk of herniation due to the higher risk of damage and layers separation of annulus fibrosus caused by increased stress in the annulus ground substance and inter-lamellar matrix.
AB - Previous literature has investigated the biomechanical response of healthy and degenerative discs, but the biomechanical response of suboptimal healthy intervertebral discs received less attention. The purpose was to compare the biomechanical responses and risk of herniation of young healthy, suboptimal healthy, and degenerative intervertebral discs. A cervical spine model was established and validated using the finite element method. Suboptimal healthy, mildly, moderately, and severely degenerative disc models were developed. Disc height deformation, range of motion, intradiscal pressure, and von Mises stress in annulus fibrosus were analyzed by applying a moment of 4 Nm in flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation with 100 N compressive loads. Disc height deformation in young healthy, suboptimal healthy, mildly, moderately, and severely degenerative discs was 40%, 37%, 21%, 12%, and 8%, respectively. The decreasing order of the range of motion was young healthy spine > suboptimal healthy spine > mildly degenerative spine > moderately degenerative spine > severely degenerative spine. The mean stress of annulus ground substance in the suboptimal healthy disc was higher than in the young healthy disc. The mean stress of inter-lamellar matrix and annulus ground substance in moderately and severely degenerative discs was higher than in other discs. Age-related structural changes and degenerative changes increased the stiffness and reduced the elastic deformation of intervertebral discs. Decreased range of motion due to the effects of aging or degeneration on the intervertebral disc, may cause compensation of adjacent segments and lead to progressive degeneration of multiple segments. The effect of aging on the intervertebral disc increased the risk of annulus fibrosus damage from the biomechanical point of view. Moderately and severely degenerative discs may have a higher risk of herniation due to the higher risk of damage and layers separation of annulus fibrosus caused by increased stress in the annulus ground substance and inter-lamellar matrix.
KW - aging
KW - biomechanics
KW - Cervical intervertebral discs
KW - degeneration
KW - finite element simulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138344252&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/09544119221122007
DO - 10.1177/09544119221122007
M3 - Article
C2 - 36239382
AN - SCOPUS:85138344252
SN - 0954-4119
VL - 236
SP - 1541
EP - 1551
JO - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
JF - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
IS - 10
ER -