Biomedical Research

In this paper, the mechanical behaviors of the articular cartilage defect repaired area were studied under cyclic compression loading, and also discussed the material parameters index of tissue engineered cartilage (TEC) and loading frequency might prove beneficial. A dual-phase fiber-reinforced porous elastic model of articular cartilage was established by finite element software COMSOL, in which depthdependent mechanical parameters of cartilage was considered. The stress distribution in the repaired area, the displacement difference between two adjacent paths on both sides of the repaired interface and the stress respond of the solid matrix to the cyclic loading was studied numerically. The mechanical environment of the repaired area changed significantly. At the same frequency, the TEC with lower elastic modulus (0.1 MPa, 0.3 MPa), the maximum value of stress and the displacement difference between adjacent paths were lower in the repaired area. The peak-peak value of stress respond curves of solid matrix to cyclic loading at higher frequency (0.5 Hz) was lower than that at lower frequency (0.1 Hz) in each layer. According to the numerical simulation results in this paper, the TEC with elastic modulus (0.3 Mpa) and the cyclic loading at frequency (0.5 Hz), the mechanical environment of the repaired area was better than other conditions. This work has some guiding significance for the development of biomedical basis and patients in clinical care and rehabilitation training technology.

Author(s): Xi-Ge Ma, Hai-Ying Liu, Cheng-Fei Du, Wei Wang, Chun-Qiu Zhang
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