Wave front migration of endothelial cells in a bone-implant interface

Georges Khalil (1) , Sylvie Lorthois (1) , Manuel Marcoux (1) , Pierre Mansat (1, 2) , Pascal Swider (1)

1 IMFT - Institut de mécanique des fluides de Toulouse
2 CHU Toulouse - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse

The neo-vascularization of the host site is crucial for the primary fixation and the long-term stability of the bone-implant interface. Our aim was to investigate the progression of endothelial cell population in the first weeks of healing. We proposed a theoretical reactive model to study the role of initial conditions, random motility, haptotaxis and chemotaxis in interactions with fibronectin factors and transforming angiogenic factors. The application of governing equations concerned a canine experimental implant and numerical experiments based upon statistical designs of experiments supported the discussion. We found that chemotaxis due to transforming angiogenic factors was attracting endothelial cells present into the host bone. Haptotaxis conditioned by fibronectin factors favored cells adhesion to the host bone. The combination of diffusive and reactive effects nourished the wave front migration of endothelial cells from the host bone towards the implant. Angiogenesis goes together with new-formed bone formation in clinics, so the similarity of distribution patterns of mineralized tissue observed in-vivo and the spatio-temporal concentration of endothelial cells predicted by the model, tended to support the reliability of our theoretical approach.

Mots clés: Reactive transport; Endothelial cells; Growth factor; Implant fixation; Angiogenesis

Domaines: Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Biologie cellulaire

Georges Khalil, Sylvie Lorthois, Manuel Marcoux, Pierre Mansat, Pascal Swider. Wave front migration of endothelial cells in a bone-implant interface. Journal of Biomechanics, 2011, 44 (10), pp.1980-1986. ⟨10.1016/j.jbiomech.2011.05.008⟩. ⟨hal-01589942⟩