Wear-Lines and Split-Lines of Human Patellar Cartilage: Relation to Tensile Biomechanical Properties

摘要

BackgroundArticular cartilage undergoes age-associated degeneration, resulting in both structural and functional biomechanical changes. At early stages of degeneration, wear-lines develop in the general direction of joint movement. With aging, cartilage exhibits a decrease in tensile modulus. The tensile modulus of cartilage has also been related to the orientation of the collagen network, as revealed by split-lines.