Metallic aluminium in municipal solid waste incineration fly ash as a blowing agent for porous alkali-activated granules.

Porous alkali-activated materials are synthetic aluminosilicates that should be often produced as granules for practical applications. In the present study, municipal solid waste incineration fly ash with ~1.2 wt% of metallic aluminium was used as a novel blowing agent for metakaolin (their ratio ranged from 0% to 100%) with an aqueous sodium silicate solution as the alkali-activator and granulation fluid in high-shear granulation. The compressive strength of all granules was sufficient (≥2 MPa). Water absorption indicated an increase in porosity as the fly ash content increased. However, X-ray microtomography imaging showed no clear correlation between the fly ash content and porosity. The granules exceeded the leaching limits for earth construction materials for antimony, vanadium, chloride and sulphate. Of those, antimony, chloride and sulphate could be controlled by decreasing the ash content, but the source of vanadium was identified as metakaolin. The increase in the fly ash content decreased the cation exchange capacity of the granules. In conclusion, the recommended fly ash content is equivalent to 0.3 wt% of Al0 and the developed granules could be best suited as light-weight artificial aggregates in concrete where the additional binder would provide stabilization to decrease the leaching.

No adverse effects on periarticular tissue by intra-articular vitamin D analogue calcipotriol in a reduced-dose zymosan-induced arthritis model in rats.

Calcipotriol, a vitamin D analogue, is an antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory drug currently used in psoriasis. Here, our aim was to analyse the safety of calcipotriol for cartilage and bone in alleviated-dose (0.1 mg instead of usual ≥1mg dose) zymosan-induced arthritis in rats. Theoretically, high doses of vitamin D or analogues could have detrimental effects on bone or cartilage. The rats were divided into four groups: vehicle (n = 9), dexamethasone 0.1 mg/kg (n = 9), calcipotriol 0.1 mg/kg (n = 8) and negative control (n = 10) with no injections. Arthritic rats were given phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) injections to left knees as a control. After euthanasia on day 8, all knees were imaged with micro-computed tomography for surface lesions and decalcified for histological analyses. Contrary to our expectations, no significant changes could be observed in the tomography data and histological scores among the three treatment groups or between the vehicle-treated and non-arthritic group. Calcipotriol did not cause adverse effects on cartilage or subchondral bone within a week, suggesting that it could be safely used in local treatment of arthritis. The alleviated model caused synovitis with local and systemic inflammatory response without cartilage erosions, which might be useful in studying self-limiting synovitis where cartilage or bone effects are not of primary interest.

Raman microspectroscopic analysis of the tissue-specific composition of the human osteochondral junction in osteoarthritis: A pilot study.

This study investigates the influence of osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity on the bio-composition of the osteochondral junction at the human tibial plateau using Raman microspectroscopy. We specifically aim to analyze the spatial composition of mineralized osteochondral tissues, i.e., calcified cartilage (CC) and subchondral bone plate (SBP) from unfixed, hydrated specimens. We hypothesize that the mineralization of CC and SBP decreases in advanced OA. Twenty-eight cylindrical osteochondral samples (d = 4 mm) from tibial plateaus of seven cadaveric donors were harvested and sorted into three groups following histopathological grading: healthy (n = 5), early OA (n = 8), and advanced OA (n = 15). Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate cluster analyses to identify different tissues. Finally, the tissue-specific composition was analyzed, and the impact of OA was statistically evaluated with linear mixed models. Cluster analyses of Raman spectra successfully distinguished CC and SBP as well as a tidemark region and uncalcified cartilage. CC was found to be more mineralized and the mineral was more crystalline compared with SBP. Both tissues exhibited similar compositional changes as a function of histopathological OA severity. In early OA, the mineralization tends to increase, and the mineral contains fewer carbonate substitutions. Compared with early OA, mineral crystals are rich in carbonate while the overall mineralization decreases in advanced OA. This Raman spectroscopic study advances the methodology for investigating the complex osteochondral junction from native tissue. The developed methodology can be used to elucidate detailed tissue-specific changes in the chemical composition with advancing OA. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, Raman microspectroscopy was utilized to investigate the influence of osteoarthritic degeneration on the tissue-specific biochemical composition of the human osteochondral junction. Multivariate cluster analyses allowed us to characterize subtle compositional changes in the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate as well as in the tidemark region. The compositional differences found between the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate in both organic and mineral phases will serve as critical benchmark parameters when designing biomaterials for osteochondral repair. We found tissue-specific changes in the mineralization and carbonate substitution as a function of histopathological OA severity. Our developed methodology can be used to investigate the metabolic changes in the osteochondral junction associated with osteoarthritis.

Effects of Articular Cartilage Constituents on Phosphotungstic Acid Enhanced Micro-Computed Tomography.

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CEµCT) with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) has shown potential for detecting collagen distribution of articular cartilage. However, the selectivity of the PTA staining to articular cartilage constituents remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the dependence of PTA for the collagen content in bovine articular cartilage. Adjacent bovine articular cartilage samples were treated with chondroitinase ABC and collagenase to degrade the proteoglycan and the collagen constituents in articular cartilage, respectively. Enzymatically degraded samples were compared to the untreated samples using CEµCT and reference methods, such as Fourier-transform infrared imaging. Decrease in the X-ray attenuation of PTA in articular cartilage and collagen content was observed in cartilage depth of 0-13% and deeper in tissue after collagen degradation. Increase in the X-ray attenuation of PTA was observed in the cartilage depth of 13-39% after proteoglycan degradation. The X-ray attenuation of PTA-labelled articular cartilage in CEµCT is associated mainly with collagen content but the proteoglycans have a minor effect on the X-ray attenuation of the PTA-labelled articular cartilage. In conclusion, the PTA labeling provides a feasible CEµCT method for 3D characterization of articular cartilage.

Association between subchondral bone structure and osteoarthritis histopathological grade.

Despite increasing evidence that subchondral bone contributes to osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis, little is known about local changes in bone structure compared to cartilage degeneration. This study linked structural adaptation of subchondral bone with histological OA grade. Twenty-five osteochondral samples of macroscopically different degeneration were prepared from tibiae of 14 patients. Samples were scanned with micro-computed tomography (µCT) and both conventional structural parameters and novel 3D parameters based on local patterns were analyzed from the subchondral plate and trabecular bone. Subsequently, samples were processed for histology and evaluated for OARSI grade. Each bone parameter and OARSI grade was compared to assess structural adaptation of bone with OA severity. In addition, thicknesses of cartilage, calcified cartilage, and subchondral plate were analyzed from histological sections and compared with subchondral bone plate thickness from µCT. With increasing OARSI grade, the subchondral plate became thicker along with decreased specific bone surface, while there was no change in tissue mineral density. Histological analysis showed that subchondral plate thickness from µCT also includes calcified cartilage. Entropy of local patterns increased with OA severity, reflecting higher tissue heterogeneity. In the trabecular compartment, bone volume fraction and both trabecular thickness and number increased with OARSI grade while trabecular separation and structure model index decreased. Also, elevation of local patterns became longitudinal in the subchondral plate and axial transverse in trabecular bone with increasing OARSI grade. This study demonstrates the possibility of radiological assessment of OA severity by structural analysis of bone. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Orthopaedic Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:785-792, 2017.

Micro-CT Analysis of Bone Healing in Rabbit Calvarial Critical-Sized Defects with Solid Bioactive Glass, Tricalcium Phosphate Granules or Autogenous Bone.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate bone healing in rabbit critical-sized calvarial defects using two different synthetic scaffold materials, solid biodegradable bioactive glass and tricalcium phosphate granules alongside solid and particulated autogenous bone grafts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Bilateral full thickness critical-sized calvarial defects were created in 15 New Zealand white adult male rabbits. Ten defects were filled with solid scaffolds made of bioactive glass or with porous tricalcium phosphate granules. The healing of the biomaterial-filled defects was compared at the 6 week time point to the healing of autologous bone grafted defects filled with a solid cranial bone block in 5 defects and with particulated bone combined with fibrin glue in 10 defects. In 5 animals one defect was left unfilled as a negative control. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was used to analyze healing of the defects. RESULTS: Micro-CT analysis revealed that defects filled with tricalcium phosphate granules showed new bone formation in the order of 3.89 (SD 1.17)% whereas defects treated with solid bioactive glass scaffolds showed 0.21 (SD 0.16)%, new bone formation. In the empty negative control defects there was an average new bone formation of 21.8 (SD 23.7)%. CONCLUSIONS: According to findings in this study, tricalcium phosphate granules have osteogenic potential superior to bioactive glass, though both particulated bone with fibrin glue and solid bone block were superior defect filling materials.