Histomorphological and mechanical property correlations in rabbit tibial plateau cartilage based on a fibril-reinforced biphasic model

Abstract

The rabbit knee joint has frequently been used to study the mechanical properties of articular cartilage using various computational models. These models, however, vary in their ability to extract comparable material properties of cartilage from experimental data, resulting in inconsistencies in the data from various laboratories. A more complex, fibril-reinforced biphasic model more accurately fits the response of the cartilage by incorporating a collagen fibre network within the matrix. Indentation-relaxation tests were conducted on the medial and lateral facets in areas covered and uncovered by the meniscus on the rabbit tibial plateau. Gross and histological data were analysed and correlated with the mechanical properties. The fibril-reinforced biphasic model accurately fit the entire experimental curve extracting both the instantaneous (fibre modulus) and equilibrium (matrix modulus) responses and tissue permeability. The data was found significant at all sites. Significant correlations were also doc...