Effects of blood vessel permeability on mechanical properties of bone under micro-gravity conditions

Loss of bone mass is one important physiological change observed in astronauts after medium and long-term exposure to microgravity conditions. The objective of the current study is to test the hypothesis that loss of bone mass under microgravity can be inhibited if the same micro-force distribution under earth gravity (body weight) is achieved by increasing the blood vessel permeability to increase the transcortical interstitial fluid flow. A method of exposure to bio-frequency spectrum (BFS) light (infrared to micrometer wavelength) was used to increase the blood vessel permeability. We tested the hypothesis by examining the bone mechanical properties (Young's modulus) of rat femur and humerus for four groups of animals. (i) control, (ii) exposure to a bio-frequency spectrum (BFS) light, (iii) tail-suspension (simulating microgravity condition), and (iv) tail-suspension and exposure to a bio-frequency spectrum (BFS) light. Twenty-eight adult rats of ∼250 g were used and kept for 50 days before sacrificing. The average Young's moduli for each group of rat femurs are (i) 1.78 GPa, (ii) 2.04 GPa, (iii) 2.03 GPa.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2003

Author dc:creator

• Drollinger, Robert L

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bingmei Fu

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1588

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2587