A team of Scottish scientists have been awarded £400,000 to carry out research which will eventually help in the treatment being provided to patients suffering from different types of bone diseases.
The research could eventually benefit sufferers of back pain and of bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis and involves collaboration between the Colleges of Physical Sciences and Life Sciences and Medicine.
The research will look at the chemical make-up as well as the biology involved in diseased bone, using techniques which are quite unique for this purpose in the UK. This will aid in the understanding on how these diseases affect the actual chemistry of the bone, and therefore its mechanical strength. For example, osteoporosis is associated with a decrease in the quantity and quality of bone, which leads to susceptibility to fracture.
Osteoporosis is a chronic disease with late clinical consequences. For this reason it has been termed the “silent epidemic” since there are no associated symptoms or warning signs prior to fracture.
This new project will enable the team, for example, to determine if there is an associated change in the chemical composition of bone mineral with the onset of osteoporosis. There is long-term potential for this technology to be used in a diagnostic manner.
Almost 8 million people in the UK are affected by osteoarthritis and 1 million people seek treatment for their symptoms. Around 50,000 people undergo total hip replacement surgery and more than 35,000 undergo knee replacement surgery every year in the UK (about three in four of these surgeries are as a result of osteoarthritis). In addition, sufferers of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis occupy about half of the orthopaedic beds in the UK and inevitably this proves to be a huge strain for hospitals. The total cost of all fractures each year in the UK is the same as the predicted cost of London hosting the 2012 Olympics.
Dr Iain Gibson, an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow within the Schools of Physical Sciences and Medical Sciences, is part of the University’s team involved in the research. He said: “Bone is an amazing material, having the same strength as cast iron but being as light as wood. The skeleton provides many functions - not only does it support the body, but it also protects organs and enables movement.
“The whole idea of the project is to look at surface chemistry at a very small scale. A human bone cell is approximately 10 microns in diameter (where one micron is 1/100th of the width of a human hair), but the actual structure of bone is smaller than that. This project will enable us to analyse the changes in bone composition as a result of disease, or after implantation of a medical implant, at a very small scale.
“We will be trying to understand bone diseases and how they change the inherent chemical properties of our bones. Also, we will be able to determine how our bones respond to medical implants, such as hip replacements, and determine if these implants will affect the chemistry of the surrounding bones. This will help in designing improved implant materials that not only help patients to regain a normal quality of life, but will also shorten the healing time after surgery.”
The Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has provided the funding towards the three-year collaborative project. The Aberdeen researchers involved in the project include Professor Richard Aspden (Orthopaedics / School of Medicine), Dr Iain Gibson (School of Medical Sciences / Chemistry), Dr Richard Wells (Chemistry), Professor Corrie Imrie (Chemistry) and Dr Jan Skakle (Chemistry). The work is also supported by the spectroscopy company, Renishaw, and a synthetic bone graft company, Apatech.
The project will use a spectroscopic technique (Raman microscopy) that will enable chemical characterisation of bone and related materials at a very small scale – approximately 1 micron.
The research will allow the team to understand better how natural bone changes when it becomes diseased. This will enable the design and preparation of novel synthetic replacement materials that will have at least some of the amazing properties of the natural material.
The origins of the mechanical properties of bone in terms of the composition and structure of the material are still poorly understood. In addition, bone density inevitably decreases with age, and the consequences of bone not functioning properly are huge.
The research is part of a wider project on osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in bone, being led by Professor Aspden, which also involves genetic factors that influence disease. It is also part of another project looking at new biomaterials, particularly those that can be used, for example, in spinal fusion operations or in hip replacement surgeries (Drs Gibson and Skakle).