Mechanical properties of the mouse femur after treatment with diclofenac and running exercises.

PURPOSE: The flexible properties of the bone are essential for the movement and protection of vital organs. The ability of a bone to resist fractures under the influence of large muscles and physical activity depends on its established mechanical properties. This article discusses how exercise such as treadmill running and taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as diclofenac, affect the musculoskeletal system by modifying the elastic and thermal properties of the left femur of a mouse. METHODS: The research was conducted using 9-week-old C57BL/6J female mice. In order to investigate the elastic and thermal properties of bones, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed. RESULTS: The study of elastic properties, followed by in-depth statistical analysis, shows that taking diclofenac slightly reduces the elastic parameters of the bones under study. These changes are more pronounced in DSC studies, the shift of the observed endothermic peaks is on the order of several degrees with a simultaneous increase in the enthalpy of this process. CONCLUSIONS: The opposite effect of the applied factors - diclofenac and running - on the elastic properties of the bones of the examined mice was found. The external factors - running and diclofenac - modify the basic parameters of the endothermic process associated with the release of water.

Trabecular bone remodelling in the femur of C57BL/6J mice treated with diclofenac in combination with treadmill exercise.

PURPOSE: Analgesic treatment with diclofenac deteriorates bone structure and decreases biomechanical properties. This bone loss has been though to be reversed by training. The impact of exercise on bone treated with diclofenac (DF) has reminded elusive. In the present study, we assayed the combined impact of exercises and DF on mouse femur. METHODS: The femur samples we obtained from 30 days treated C57BL/6J female mice. The training group ran on a horizontal treadmill at 12 m/min by 30 min a day (5% grade/slope). The group of ten mice treated with DF received the drug subcutaneously every day (5 mg/kg of body weight/day). The combined group ran on the treadmill and obtained DF. After 30 days, we sacrificed mice and studied their femurs using microcomputed tomography (µCT), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and nanoindentation. RESULTS: We observed that treadmill running and DF decreased trabecular bone volume and mineral density. Combined effect of training and DF was not additive. A significant interaction of both parameters suggested protective effect of training on bone loss provoked by DF. The femur cortical bone shell remained untouched by the training and treatment. The training and the DF treatment did not alter the storage modulus E' significantly. The unchanged storage modulus would be suggesting on the unaltered bone strength. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that even relatively short time of training with concomitant DF treatment could be protective on trabecular bone. Although viscoelastic properties of the entire femur were not modulated, femur trabecular tissue was thinned by treatment with DF and protected by training.

The Interaction between Surface Acoustic Waves and Spin Waves: The Role of Anisotropy and Spatial Profiles of the Modes.

The interaction between different types of wave excitation in hybrid systems is usually anisotropic. Magnetoelastic coupling between surface acoustic waves and spin waves strongly depends on the direction of the external magnetic field. However, in the present study we observe that even if the orientation of the field is supportive for the coupling, the magnetoelastic interaction can be significantly reduced for surface acoustic waves with a particular profile in the direction normal to the surface at distances much smaller than the wavelength. We use Brillouin light scattering for the investigation of thermally excited phonons and magnons in a magnetostrictive CoFeB/Au multilayer deposited on a Si substrate. The experimental data are interpreted on the basis of a linearized model of interaction between surface acoustic waves and spin waves.

Comparison of thermal properties of fish collagen and bovine collagen in the temperature range 298-670K.

The increased interest in fish collagen is a consequence of the risk of exposure to Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD) and the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), whose occurrence is associated with prions carried by bovine collagen. Collagen is the main biopolymer in living organisms and the main component of the skin and bones. Until the discovery of the BSE, bovine collagen had been widely used. The BSE epidemic increased the interest in new sources of collagen such as fish skin collagen (FSC) and its properties. Although the thermal properties of collagen originating from mammals have been well described, less attention has been paid to the thermal properties of FSC. Denaturation temperature is a particularly important parameter, depending on the collagen origin and hydration level. In the reported experiment, the free water and bound water release processes along with thermal denaturation process were studied by means of the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Measurements were carried out using a DSC 7 instrument (Elmer-Perkin), in the temperature range 298-670K. The study material was FSC derived by acidic hydration method. The bovine Achilles tendon (BAT) collagen type I was used as the control material. The thermograms recorded revealed both, exothermic and endothermic peaks. For both materials, the peaks in the temperature range of 330-360K were assigned to the release of free water and bound water. The denaturation temperatures of FSC and BAT collagen were determined as 420K and 493K, respectively. Thermal decomposition process was observed at about 500K for FSC and at about 510K for BAT collagen. These results show that FSC is less resistant to high temperature than BAT collagen.

Second Harmonic Generation Response in Thermally reconstructed Multiferroic ß'- Gd2(MoO4)3 Thin Films.

Gd2(MoO4)3 (GMO) is a well-studied multiferroic material that exhibits full ferroelectric and ferroelastic behavior at room temperature. However, its difficult stabilization in thin films has prevented the study and exploitation of its multiferroic properties in different architectures. Here, we report on the study of GMO thin films deposited on Si(001) substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The physicochemical properties of the films are discussed and studied. Results obtained by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, high resolution transmission microscopy and second harmonic generation show that the orthorhombic (ß'-GMO) multiferroic phase can be stabilized and homogenized by post deposition thermal reconstruction. Finally, the reconstruction process takes place via a complex surface mechanism with a clear leaf-like behavior.

Time-dependent changes in dynamic mechanical properties of irradiated bone.

The increased use of allograft tissue for musculoskeletal repair has brought more focus to the safety of allogenic tissue and the efficacy of various sterilization techniques. The currently available literature contains few examples of studies on long-lasting strains of bones but no example for irradiated bones. In this study the bovine femurs from a 2-year-old animal were machine cut and irradiated with the doses of 10, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 50 kGy. The dynamic mechanical analysis was performed at 1 Hz at the room temperature in a 3-point bending configuration for 2880 minutes. The final values of E' and E″ were dose independent but they were reached at different periods. For this reason, so called "critical point" was introduced for the further analysis. All the examined sample groups were characterized by statistically significant lower values of the critical point in comparison with the control samples (p<0.05) but the biggest differences were observed between the control samples and the samples irradiated with the doses of 10, 15 and 25 kGy. Current results and literature review suggest that the dose of 35 kGy is the optimal dose for ionizing radiation sterilization.

Radiation sterilized bone response to dynamic loading.

Allogeneic bone grafts are used on a large scale in surgeries. To avoid the risk of infectious diseases, allografts should be radiation-sterilized. So far, no international consensus has been achieved regarding the optimal radiation dose. Many authors suggest that bone sterilization deteriorates bone mechanical properties. However, no data on the influence of ionizing radiation on bone dynamic mechanical properties are available. Bovine femurs from 2-year old animal were machine cut and irradiated with the doses 10, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 50 kGy. Dynamic mechanical analysis was performed at 1-10 Hz at the temperature range of 0-350 °C in 3-point bending configuration. No statistically significant differences in storage modulus were observed. However, there were significant decreased values of loss modulus between the samples irradiated with doses of 10 (↓14.3%), 15, 45 and 50 kGy (↓33.2%) and controls. It was stated that increased irradiation dose decreases the temperature where collagen denaturation process starts and increases the temperature where the collagen denaturation process finishes. It was shown that activation energy of denaturation process is significantly higher for the samples irradiated with the dose of 50 kGy (615 kJ/mol) in comparison with control samples and irradiation with other doses (100-135 kJ/mol).

Changes in thermal and electrical properties of bone as a result of 1 MGy-dose gamma-irradiation.

Determination of temperature dependencies of electric conductivity and thermal properties by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) allow to analyse the processes of charge and heat transport in the bone being a complex collagen-hydroxyapatite (HAP)-water system. Modification of the bone structure by high doses of gamma-radiation changes the electrical and thermal properties of the bone. Electrical conductivity (sigma) of the bone decreases with consecutive heating runs. The decrease in sigma observed for irradiated samples was explained by the scission of the main chain of collagen macromolecule. Irradiation decreased the hydration level in the bone, its denaturation temperature and increased both enthalpy and entropy of the denaturation process.