Advances and Applications of Nanomechanical Tools in Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Native articular cartilage is a hydrated macromolecular composite with heterogeneous composition, structure, and mechanical properties at a hierarchy of length scales. Recently, with the advances of nanotechnology, nanomechanical tools have shown great promises in understanding the mechanistic origins of cartilage function and improving the design of tissue repair strategies. This chapter reviews the current state-of-the-art nanomechanical tools, with a special focus on atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based methods. With the aid of these tools, ultrastructure of individual molecules and spatially variant mechanical properties of tissue engineered products can be directly quantified. Novel scientific information was derived from recent studies via the nanomechanical methods, including choice of cell sources, cell differentiation and purification, as well as biochemical and biomechanical stimulations. It is hoped that further progress in nanomechanical techniques and their applications on engineered cartilage could provide molecular-level mechanistic insight necessary to improve current tissue engineering strategies and propel them toward a functional repair of damaged cartilage.