The intervertebral disc is a complex, composite structure that is responsible for providing strength and stiffness in all axes of motion. Understanding the internal mechanical behaviour and microstructure of the disc is important for developing and validating multiscale computational models of tissue-level injuries. An invasive technique has been developed using needles to insert a grid of soft wires inside the disc together with x-rays to measure the internal tissue displacements during loading. While this technique has led to an improved understanding of disc mechanical function, the invasiveness of the technique has limitations with the potential to damage the disc. In addition, current techniques to visualise the microstructure of the disc requires serial sectioning of the tissues, which compromises its native structure. This project will develop techniques to non-invasively visualise soft tissue structures using x-ray-based 3D histology with contrast-enhanced microCT. This research will drive significant depth into understanding the mechanisms of disc injury as a function of mechanical loading, both via repetitive loading at everyday activity levels, and via one-off sudden overload failure.
