Quasi-static elastography comparison of hyaline cartilage structures

Journal article

Joint cartilage, a load bearing structure in mammals, has only limited ability for regeneration after damage. For tissue engineers to design functional constructs, better understanding of the properties of healthy tissue is required. Joint cartilage is a specialised structure of hyaline cartilage; a poroviscoelastic solid containing fibril matrix reinforcements. Healthy joint cartilage is layered, which is thought to be important for correct tissue function. However, the behaviour of each layer during loading is poorly understood. Ultrasound elastography provides access to depth-dependent information in real-time for a sample during loading. A 15 MHz focussed transducer provided details from scatterers within a small fixed region in each sample. Quasi-static loading was applied to cartilage samples while ultrasonic signals before and during compressions were recorded. Ultrasonic signals were processed to provide time-shift profiles using a sum-squared difference method and cross-correlation. Two structures of hyaline cartilage have been tested ultrasonically and mechanically to determine method suitability for monitoring internal deformation differences under load and the effect of the layers on the global mechanical material behaviour. Results show differences in both the global mechanical properties and the ultrasonically tested strain distributions between the two structures tested. It was concluded that these differences are caused primarily by the fibril orientations. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Authors: McCredie, J; Stride, E; Saffari, N

• Journal: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
• Volume: 195
• Pages: 012004-012004
• Publication date: 2009-01-01
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/195/1/012004
• EISSN: 1742-6596
• ISSN: 1742-6588
• Language: English