Morgan, Elise F.Frings, Neilesh2025-05-222025-05-222025https://hdl.handle.net/2144/504622025The vertebral endplate region forms the junction between the intervertebral disc and the vertebral body in the human spine and is made up of the cartilage endplate, bony endplate (BEP) and underlying subchondral bone. This region serves crucial roles in healthy spinal function, mediating fluid transport and load transfer between the disc and the vertebra. The region is also a frequent site of vertebral fracture, an injury that becomes more prevalent with age and will affect 30-50% of people over the age of 50 over the remainder of their lifetime. Interestingly, not all vertebra fractures involve breakage of the BEP itself, an important fact, because vertebral fractures that do involve BEP fracture are associated with worse patient outcomes, including accelerated degeneration of the adjacent intervertebral disc. As of yet, little is known about the properties of the vertebral endplate region, the likelihood of BEP yield or fracture during vertebral fracture, and what factors influence this likelihood. To address these knowledge gaps, this dissertation presents a series of studies that characterize the properties of the BEP and other tissues of the endplate region. These studies include experimental investigation of the composition, structure, and mechanical properties of the endplate region across age and disc degeneration, and finite element modeling to examine the relative risk of failure in the BEP, subchondral bone, and other portions of the vertebral body. Finite element modeling was also used to determine the influence of variations in the endplate region’s structural and mechanical properties on the risk of BEP failure. The results of these studies illustrate influence of the region’s composition and structure on its mechanical properties, and that the composition, structure, and mechanical properties of the endplate region are relatively independent of age and disc degeneration. Modeling of the vertebra shows that the BEP is at high risk of failure at the onset of vertebral fracture, and that while variations in the endplate region’s structural and mechanical properties are influential on failure risk, the BEP generally remains at a greater risk of failure compared to the bone beneath it. Overall, the results of these studies indicate that, of all the tissues that comprise the endplate region, the BEP is at highest risk of yield and failure during vertebral fracture, and suggest that direct measurement of the endplate region’s properties may improve prediction of vertebral fracture and BEP fracture risk.en-USBiomedical engineeringThesis/Dissertation2025-05-220009-0003-9840-8409