The Effect of Material Mechanics on Artificial Cartilage Defects Repaired in Tissue Engineering

摘要

The stress distribution of artificial cartilage and host cartilage after repairing defect by tissue engineering was researched through finite element method under rolling compression loads. Taking knee articular cartilage as the research object, we established a three-dimensional finite element model of relative-rolling movement of articular cartilage. According to the dynamic boundary conditions between the femur and tibia during normal walking, finite element technique was used to analyze articular cartilages with different elastic module, different compression, different walking speeds and different defect sizes under the rolling compression load. The increases of both the elastic modulus of the implant and compression make the Mises stress increase in both artificial cartilage and host cartilage. The impact of different speeds and defect sizes were not obvious. The elastic modulus of the implant and compression have a more pronounced effect on Mises stress state of articular cartilage at the defect site after surgery. They are the main factors that worth being noticed in clinical treatment of cartilage defects and postoperative rehabilitation stage. Finite element dynamic analysis, which more closely simulates the force situation of repaired cartilage during walking, provides some theoretical reference for the repairing of articular cartilage defect by tissue engineering.