Comparison of optical and biomechanical properties of native and artificial equine joint cartilage under load using NIR spectroscopy

Abstract

The gold standard for functional analyses of joint cartilage tissue is biomechanical indentation. There, parameters like modulus of elasticity or modulus of relaxation are evaluated. A fast and non-destructive method to characterize cartilage properties is near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). It is sensitive to the molecular structure and morphology of the tissue. A combination of NIRS and biomechanical indentation offers a new possibility to study functional behaviour of tissue. Especially for tissue engineering this non destructive method has the potential to improve the process monitoring and quality control. For osteoarthritis research and diagnostics the functional characterisation of cartilage tissue can be improved. In order to demonstrate the prospects of the method, the optical and biomechanical behaviour of native equine joint cartilage ith and without pathological changes and tissue engineered equine joint cartilage will be compared in this paper. © 2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston.