Biomechanical properties of the medial meniscus in experimental animal models

The material properties of the baboon, bovine, canine, human, lapine, and porcine medial meniscus were determined in six locations: the anterior, central, and posterior portions of the femoral and tibial sides of the tissue. In situ creep and recovery indentation experiments were performed using a creep indentation apparatus. The entire creep curve was fitted with a finite element optimization method to determine the material properties. Results show significant variations in the aggregate modulus, Poisson's ratio, permeability, and shear modulus between the six testing locations both intraspecies and interspecies. In general, the canine model exhibits the highest aggregate and shear moduli, whereas the lapine model has the highest permeability and Poisson's ratio. The aggregate modulus and shear modulus in the human is the most similar to bovine. The human permeability values are the closest to the canine and baboon model. Overall, this study shows that caution must be exercised when comparing the menisci between different animal models.