Nanoindentation differentiates tissue-scale functional.pdfVIP

Nanoindentation differentiates tissue-scale functional properties of native articular cartilage Cheng Li,1 Lisa A. Pruitt,1,2 Karen B. King1,3 1UCB/UCSF Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 3Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California Received 25 August 2005; revised 17 December 2005; accepted 19 January 2006 Published online 31 May 2006 in Wiley InterScience (). DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.30751 Abstract: Cartilage mechanical properties are typically icant positive correlations (r 0.98, p 0.05) between tested at the macroscale. To demonstrate the ability of superficial zone thickness and both S and R. However, we nanoindentation to characterize in situ articular cartilage found no significant correlation between dV/V and the zone properties at the tissue scale, we investigated the local struc- sizes. There were moderate, negative correlations between ture–property relationships of intact articular cartilage of a cell density and both S and R, suggesting an effect of cell normal rabbit metacarpophalangeal joint. We calculated the volume on cartilage behavior at the tissue scale. We opine mechanical parameters of stiffness, S, resistance to penetra- that the superficial zone plays important role in load sup- tion, R, and volumetric creep strain, dV/V, from nanoinden- port, as evidenced by correlations between zone size and tation of the articular surface at specific regions of interest. intact cartilage mechanical properties. © 2006 Wiley Period- We measured morphological parameters of superficial zone icals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 78A: 729–738, 2006 thickness, middle zone thickness, total uncalcified thickness, and cell density from corresponding regio