Coupling synchrotron time-resolved and nanotomography to investigate the multiscale structure and strain gradients of the enthesis tissue

Enthesis injuries (tendon-to-bone insertion) constitute one of the major sources of tendon injuries worldwide. The multiscale morphological/mechanical behaviour of the enthesis is complex and driven by a combination of biological, morphological, and mechanical factors that differentiate from the micro- down to the nanoscale. In the proposed experiments, we aim at quantifying the multiscale mechanical and morphological patterns generated on a clinically relevant animal enthesis, complementing capabilities of two beamlines at EBS-ESRF. The samples will be first imaged in a time-resolved in-situ loading to measure the physiological full-field strain evolution, at different strain rates, using Digital Volume Correlation (DVC). Based on insights obtained within these DVC measurements, we will target highly strained regions and extract smaller samples of post-tested enthesis for a morphological quantification at the nanoscale, comparing it to pristine tissue from the same location.