Bone refilling in cortical basic multicellular units: Insights into tetracycline double labelling from a computational model

Abstract

Bone remodelling is carried out by 'bone multicellular units' (\text{ BMU } s) in which active osteoclasts and active osteoblasts are spatially and temporally coupled. The refilling of new bone by osteoblasts towards the back of the \text{ BMU } occurs at a rate that depends both on the number of osteoblasts and on their secretory activity. In cortical bone, a linear phenomenological relationship between matrix apposition rate and \text{ BMU } cavity radius is found experimentally. How this relationship emerges from the combination of complex, nonlinear regulations of osteoblast number and secretory activity is unknown. Here, we extend our previous mathematical model of cell development with..