Elemental and structural characterization of heterotopic ossification during achilles tendon healing provides new insights on the formation process

DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c00935

Authors: Kunal Sharma (Lund University) , Isabella Silva Barreto (Lund University) , Hector Dejea (MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University) , Malin Hammerman (Lund University; Linköping University,) , Christian Appel (Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute) , Kalotina Geraki (Diamond Light Source) , Pernilla Eliasson (Linköping University; Sahlgrenska University Hospital) , Maria Pierantoni (Lund University) , Hanna Isaksson (Lund University)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Acs Biomaterials Science & Engineering

State: Published (Approved)
Published: July 2024
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 30196

Abstract: Heterotopic ossification (HO) in tendons can lead to increased pain and poor tendon function. Although it is believed to share some characteristics with bone, the structural and elemental compositions of HO deposits have not been fully elucidated. This study utilizes a multimodal and multiscale approach for structural and elemental characterization of HO deposits in healing rat Achilles tendons at 3, 6, 12, 16, and 20 weeks post transection. The microscale tomography and scanning electron microscopy results indicate increased mineral density and Ca/P ratio in the maturing HO deposits (12 and 20 weeks), when compared to the early time points (3 weeks). Visually, the mature HO deposits present microstructures similar to calcaneal bone. Through synchrotron-based X-ray scattering and fluorescence, the hydroxyapatite (HA) crystallites are shorter along the c-axis and become larger in the ab-plane with increasing healing time, while the HA crystal thickness remains within the reference values for bone. At the mineralization boundary, the overlap between high levels of calcium and prominent crystallite formation was outlined by the presence of zinc and iron. In the mature HO deposits, the calcium content was highest, and zinc was more present internally, which could be indicative of HO deposit remodeling. This study emphasizes the structural and elemental similarities between the calcaneal bone and HO deposits.

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials, Materials, Medicine


Instruments: I18-Microfocus Spectroscopy

Other Facilities: NanoMAX at MAX IV; cSAXS at PSI

Added On: 24/07/2024 15:00

Documents:
sharma-et-al-2024-elemental-and-structural-characterization-of-heterotopic-ossification-during-achilles-tendon-healing.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Biomaterials Health & Wellbeing Materials Science Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Imaging Scattering X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS)