The effect of OA on collagen mechanical behaviour
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The role of dynamic mechanical behaviour of altered collagen network under loading to OA state-dependent cartilage degradation
IRAS ID
337246
Contact name
Yixuan Zhang
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 2 days
Research summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease. It significantly impairs the life quality of affected patients with pain and mobility restrictions. Consequently, OA causes a high economic burden for both the individual and the society. Today, no successful preventions or interventions have been identified yet. It is known that cartilage degeneration and loss of its unique mechanical properties is the hallmark of OA. The compositional changes and alternations in tissue-level mechanical properties induced by OA have been investigated. However, the OA state-dependent changes in the mechanical behaviour of specifically the collagen network are not fully understood. A thorough identification of the mechanisms that drive cartilage degeneration is the foundation of intervention development in the future.
With this study, I will characterize the dynamic mechanical properties of cartilage collagen fibrils, and study how the mechanical properties change as OA progresses. We will collect hip joints from patients who underwent hip joint replacement surgery because of fracture, trauma or OA at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, including St Mary's and Charing Cross Hospital, and the elective orthopaedic centre at Central Middlesex Hospital. The cartilage and bone samples collected from hip joints will be tested under loading using synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction at Diamond Light Source (UK) to obtain cartilage tissue and collagen mechanical properties. Afterward, they will be submitted to microscopies to obtain microstructure compositions at Imperial College London. This experimental information will help to understand the driving mechanism of OA cartilage degeneration. They can also be used to develop computational models to predict OA cartilage degeneration in the future.
This experimental study is a part of PhD project, which will last for 48 months. This study is sponsored by Imperial College London and funded by Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) – Vlaanderen (Belgium).REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/YH/0194
Date of REC Opinion
19 Aug 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion