Trabecular bone formation induced by high frequency, low intensity oscillatory intramedullary pressure stimulation

It is well known that bone remodeling is sensitive to environmental stimuli, although the mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. Fluid flow induced tissue adaptation is one of the potential mechanisms. The present study is directed at characterizing trabecular bone morphometric changes in a turkey ulna model induced by dynamic intramedullary fluid flow. The results indicate that a high frequency of intramedullary fluid perturbation, if applied near physiologic magnitude, can induce trabecular bone surface remodeling with a net increase in bone quantity as compared to the contra-lateral control. This data suggests that isolated fluid flow may, in fact, be the cause of bone modeling from environmental strain. Future work with different species, different parameters, and with the addition of molecular techniques would improve the overall implications.