%A Wang,Xiayi %A Brouillette,Marc J. %A Ayati,Bruce P. %A Martin,James A. %D 2015 %J Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology %C %F %G English %K articular cartilage,Structured model,lesion formation and abatement,EPO,IL-6 %Q %R 10.3389/fbioe.2015.00025 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2015-March-10 %9 Original Research %+ Prof Bruce P. Ayati,Program in Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of Iowa,USA,bruce-ayati@uiowa.edu %+ Prof Bruce P. Ayati,Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa,USA,bruce-ayati@uiowa.edu %+ Prof Bruce P. Ayati,Department of Mathematics, University of Iowa,USA,bruce-ayati@uiowa.edu %# %! Model of Cartilage %* %< %T A Validated Model of the Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokine Balancing Act in Articular Cartilage Lesion Formation %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2015.00025 %V 3 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 2296-4185 %X Traumatic injuries of articular cartilage result in the formation of a cartilage lesion and contribute to cartilage degeneration and the risk of osteoarthritis (OA). A better understanding of the framework for the formation of a cartilage lesion formation would be helpful in therapy development. Toward this end, we present an age and space-structured model of articular cartilage lesion formation after a single blunt impact. This model modifies the reaction-diffusion-delay models in Graham et al. (2012) (single impact) and Wang et al. (2014) (cyclic loading), focusing on the “balancing act” between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Age structure is introduced to replace the delay terms for cell transitions used in these earlier models; we find age structured models to be more flexible in representing the underlying biological system and more tractable computationally. Numerical results show a successful capture of chondrocyte behavior and chemical activities associated with the cartilage lesion after the initial injury; experimental validation of our computational results is presented. We anticipate that our in silico model of cartilage damage from a single blunt impact can be used to provide information that may not be easily obtained through in in vivo or in vitro studies.