Stiffness in living cartilage increases after self-mating articulation—a nanoindentation study

摘要

Introduction: While studies have demonstrated that osteoarthritis is linked to the softening of articular cartilage, the effect of tribological stress on cartilage mechanical properties is not well-understood. Nanoindentation has made mechanical characterizations of biological tissues at micro- and nano-scales possible. However, using nanoindentation on cartilage is challenging due to its heterogeneous, biphasic, and soft material properties. In this study, we developed a method to characterize articular cartilage explants using the Ti-950 Triboindenter by Hysitron?. Once we established a repeatable nanoindentation method, we compared mechanical properties of live cartilage explants before and after undergoing self-mating articulation in a joint motion simulator.