BIOMECHANICS OF

CARTILAGE
Moderator: Ms Alisha
Presentor: Vidhisha Pai
 CONTENTS:
• COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF ARTICULAR
CARTILAGE
• MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR AND MODELING
• MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF CARTILAGE
• RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND
COMPOSITION
• MECHANICAL FAILURE OF CARTILAGE
• MODELS OF OSTEOATHRITIS
• SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
 Cartilage is a specialized connective tissue designed to
give support, bear weight and withstand tension, torsion
and bending.
 The materials classed as cartilage performs a range of
functions in the body
 Exist in various forms- Depending on its composition,
cartilage is classified as articular cartilage (also known
as hyaline), fibrocarti- lage, or elastic cartilage
CHARACTERISTICS
• Cartilage is aneural, and in normal mature animal it doesn’t
have blood supply. The entire joint is enclosed in a fibrous
tissue capsule, the inner surface of which is lined with the
synovial membrane that secretes a fluid known as synovial
fluid.
• Cartilage clearly performs a mechanical function.
• Because of its compliance structure it helps to distribute the
load between opposing bones in synovial joints.
• In synovial joint, the end of opposing bones are covered with
thin layer of articular cartilage.
COMPOSITION

ECM
Cells Collagen
(<10%) Cartilage (10-30%)
Proteoglycans

(3-10%)

Water
(60-87 %)
CELLS OF CARTILAGE
Chondrocytes - Chondroblasts
synthesize and – actively
secrete synthesize and
extracellular secrete the
matrix - located components of
in matrix extracellular
cavities – Chondroclasts –
matrix
lacunae belong to
mononuclear
phagocyte
system involved
in destruction of
the cartilage
 ECM
Solid Phase- Organic Interstitial fluid
Component Phase

Collagen type-
Proteoglycans Water Inorganic
2
Aggrecan Cations salts

Tensile stiffness Compression strength Permit gas,

and strength Maintain the ordered nutrients and
structure of collagen waste product
movement
Structural
Fluid
Component
Component
Biphasic Structure
of cartilage
 FUNCTIONS
Distributes joint loads over a wide area, decreasing the stresses
sustained by the contacting joint surfaces.
Allows relative movement of the opposing joint surfaces with
minimal friction.
Minimizes peak stresses on subchondral bone.
Provides a friction-reducing, weight-bearing surface with a friction
coefficient of 0.0025
Functions within a contact pressure range of 2-11 MPa
STRUCTURE
• Described in four zones between the articular surface and the
subchondral bone;
Surface or Superficial Tangential Zone
Intermediate or Middle Zone
Deep or Radiate Zone
Calcified Zone
• Calcified Cartilage is the boundary between the cartilage and
the underlying subchondral bone
• Interface between the deep zone and calcified cartilage is
known as tidemark.
MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR AND
MODELING
• Determined by interaction of;
Collagen
Proteoglycans
 Interstitial fluid
• In aqueous enviornment proteoglycans are polyanionic
• In solution, Mutual repulsion of these negative charges causes
an aggregated proteoglycans molecule to spread out and occupy
large volume
• In cartilage matrix, the volume occupied by proteoglyca aggregates
is limited by the entangling collagen framework.
• The swelling of the aggregated molecule against the collagen
framework is an essential element in the mechanical response of
cartilage
• When cartilage is compressed, the negatively charged sites on
aggrecan are pushed closer together, which increases their mutual
repulsive force and adds to the compressive stiffness of the
cartilage.
• If a pressure difference is applied across a section of cartilage,
fluid also flows through the tissue.
• These observations suggest that cartilage behaves like a sponge,
albeit one that does not allow fluid to flow through it easily.
 MODELING
• Recognizing that fluid flow and deformation are interdependent
has led to the modeling of cartilage as a mixture of fluid and solid
components,
• Referred as the biphasic model of cartilage
Solid: proteoglycans, collagen, cells and lipids
• Which are lumped together to constitute the solid phase of mixture.
• Interstitial fluid that is free to move through the matrix constitute
the fluid phase.
Solid phase: Incompressible elastic material
Fluid phase: Incompressible and inviscid.
MATERIAL PROPERTIES
• A confined compression test is one of the most commonly used
methods for determining material properties of cartilage.
• A disc of cartilage is cut out from the joint and placed in an
impervious well.
• Confined compression is used in either in creep mode or a
relaxation mode.
 CONFINED COMPRESSION TEST
• Creep Mode
Constant load to the cartilage
through a porous plate
Displacement of tissue
Function of time.
• Relaxation Mode
Constant displacement is
applied to the cartilage
Force needed to maintain the
displacement.
• In creep mode, the cartilage deforms under a constant load,
but the deformation is not instantaneous, as it would be in a
single-phase elastic material such as spring.
• The displacement of the cartilage is a function of time, since
the fluid cannot escape from the matrix instataneously.
• Initially, the displacement is rapid.
• This corresponds to a relatively large flow of fluid out of
cartilage.
• As the rate of displacement approaches a constant constant
value, the flow of fluid likewise slows.
• At equilibrium, the displacement is constant and fluid flow has
stopped.
• Creep mode determines
• Aggregate modulus
• Permeability
• The aggregate modulus measure the stiffness of tissue at
equilibrium when all fluid flow has ceased.
• The higher the aggregate modulus, the less the tissue deforms
under a given load.
PERMEABILITY
• The permeability of the cartilage is also determined from a
confined compression test.
• Permeability indicates the resistance to fluid flow through the
cartilage matrix.
 .
The average fluid velocity(wave) is proportional to the pressure gradient
and the constant of proportionality (k=permeability)
Darcy’s law, wave= k p
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION
• The mechaical properties of cartilage depends on;
• Glycosaminoglycan content
• Collagen contents
• Water content
• The compressive stiffness of cartilage stiffness increases as a
function of the total glycosaminoglycan content.
• In contrast, there is no correlation of compressive stiffness
with collagen content.
• In these cases, compressive stiffness is measured in creep, 2
seconds after a load is applied to the tissue.
• Permeability and compressive stiffness, as measured by the
aggregate modulus, are both highly correlated with water
content.
• As the water content increases, cartilage becomes less stiff and
more permeable
• The permeability becomes very large as the water content
increases.
BIOMECHANICAL FAILURE OF
CARTILAGE
• TENSILE STRENGTH
Articular cartilage acts as an viscoelastic material
As the tensile loading stress increases, fewer cycles of loading are
needed to cause failure.
Cartilage responds to tensile stress and strain which is shown in
curve
CONT’D
SHEAR FORCE
• Under impulsive compressive loads, the cartilage experiences
a relatively large lateral displacement due to its high Poisson’s
ratio.
• This expansion is restrained by the much stiffer subchondral
bone, causing a high shear stress at the cartilage bone
interface.
OSTEOARTHRITIS
• Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease due to excessive
wear and tear leading to degenerative change in the articular
cartilage of both opposing bone ends which participate in the
joint.
• Higher risk of osteoarthritis is due to torsional loading, fast
acceleration and deceleration, repetitive high impact.
• Studies shows that the active and passive joint motion can
have the positive effects resulting in cartilage deformation,
hydrostatic pressure and fluid flow increasing nutrition to
cartilage.
• If a damage occurs to superficial layer, it cannot resist the
force applied, so proteoglycans attract more water and there is
no opposing force to create equilibrium.
• Hence fluid movement reduced, proteoglycans escape out to
synovial fluid.
• That is how thinning of cartilage happens leading to OA.
SUMMARY
• In summary, articular cartilage provides an efficient loading
bearing surface for synovial joints that are capable of
functioning for the lifetime of an individual.
• The mechanical behavior of this tissue depends on the
interaction of its fluid ans solid components.
• Numerous forces can impair the function of cartilage and
leads to osteoarthritis.
• Reference: KINESIOLOGY The Mechanics and Pathomechanics
of Human Movement
Carol A. Oatis