X-ray Elastography of an osteoarthris mouse model

Osteoarticular diseases are the most prevalent chronic pains and long-term disabilities with hundreds of millions of people affected worldwide. The mechanical properties of bone and cartilage play a crucial role in osteoarthritis but for the moment they can only be assessed essentially by invasive techniques such as Atomic Force Microscopy or Optical Coherence tomography. Elastography is a non-invasive medical imaging modality that maps the elastic properties and stiffness of soft and mixed tissues. Unfortunately, the elastography techniques employ so far UltraSound or Magnetic Resonnance Imaging which have both weak or no signal for cartilage and bone. This proposal aims at applying a new imaging modality, namely X-ray elastography, to measure elastic properties of bone, cartilage, and menisci in entire mice joints. This imaging experiment will be performed on postmortem extracted knees of a severe osteoarthritis mouse model and control mice knees.

骨关节疾病（Osteoarticular diseases）是全球范围内影响数亿人群的最常见慢性疼痛与长期致残性疾病。骨与软骨的力学特性在骨关节炎的病理进程中发挥关键作用，但目前此类特性的评估从本质上来说仅能通过原子力显微镜（Atomic Force Microscopy）、光学相干断层扫描（Optical Coherence tomography）等有创技术完成。弹性成像（elastography）是一类无创医学成像模态，可绘制软组织及混合组织的弹性特性与刚度分布。遗憾的是，当前主流的弹性成像技术多采用超声（UltraSound）或磁共振成像（Magnetic Resonnance Imaging），但这类技术对软骨与骨骼的信号响应微弱甚至无信号。本研究拟采用一种新型成像模态——X射线弹性成像（X-ray elastography），以检测完整小鼠关节内骨、软骨及半月板的弹性特性。该成像实验将在重度骨关节炎小鼠模型的死后离体膝关节，以及对照组小鼠的膝关节上开展。