Award Date

1-1-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Bingmei Fu

Number of Pages

60

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Blood; Bone; Conditions; Effects; Gravity; Mechanical; Micro; Permeability; Properties; Under; Vessel

Controlled Subject

Biomedical engineering; Mechanical engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

2775.04 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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