Header

UZH-Logo

Maintenance Infos

A model to study articular cartilage mechanical and biological responses to sliding loads


Schätti, Oliver R; Gallo, Luigi M; Torzilli, Peter A (2016). A model to study articular cartilage mechanical and biological responses to sliding loads. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 44(8):2577-2588.

Abstract

In physiological conditions, joint function involves continuously moving contact areas over the tissue surface. Such moving contacts play an important role for the durability of the tissue. It is known that in pathological joints these motion paths and contact mechanics change. Nevertheless, limited information exists on the impact of such physiological and pathophysiological dynamic loads on cartilage mechanics and its subsequent biological response. We designed and validated a mechanical device capable of applying simultaneous compression and sliding forces onto cartilage explants to simulate moving joint contact. Tests with varying axial loads (1-4 kg) and sliding speeds (1-20 mm/s) were performed on mature viable bovine femoral condyles to investigate cartilage mechanobiological responses. High loads and slow sliding speeds resulted in highest cartilage deformations. Contact stress and effective cartilage moduli increased with increasing load and increasing speed. In a pilot study, changes in gene expression of extracellular matrix proteins were correlated with strain, contact stress and dynamic effective modulus. This study describes a mechanical test system to study the cartilage response to reciprocating sliding motion and will be helpful in identifying mechanical and biological mechanisms leading to the initiation and development of cartilage degeneration.

Abstract

In physiological conditions, joint function involves continuously moving contact areas over the tissue surface. Such moving contacts play an important role for the durability of the tissue. It is known that in pathological joints these motion paths and contact mechanics change. Nevertheless, limited information exists on the impact of such physiological and pathophysiological dynamic loads on cartilage mechanics and its subsequent biological response. We designed and validated a mechanical device capable of applying simultaneous compression and sliding forces onto cartilage explants to simulate moving joint contact. Tests with varying axial loads (1-4 kg) and sliding speeds (1-20 mm/s) were performed on mature viable bovine femoral condyles to investigate cartilage mechanobiological responses. High loads and slow sliding speeds resulted in highest cartilage deformations. Contact stress and effective cartilage moduli increased with increasing load and increasing speed. In a pilot study, changes in gene expression of extracellular matrix proteins were correlated with strain, contact stress and dynamic effective modulus. This study describes a mechanical test system to study the cartilage response to reciprocating sliding motion and will be helpful in identifying mechanical and biological mechanisms leading to the initiation and development of cartilage degeneration.

Statistics

Citations

Dimensions.ai Metrics
13 citations in Web of Science®
15 citations in Scopus®
Google Scholar™

Altmetrics

Downloads

2 downloads since deposited on 22 Mar 2016
0 downloads since 12 months
Detailed statistics

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:04 Faculty of Medicine > Center for Dental Medicine > Clinic for Masticatory Disorders
Dewey Decimal Classification:610 Medicine & health
Scopus Subject Areas:Physical Sciences > Biomedical Engineering
Language:English
Date:23 December 2016
Deposited On:22 Mar 2016 15:16
Last Modified:26 Jan 2022 09:23
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0090-6964
OA Status:Closed
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-015-1543-9
PubMed ID:26698580