Adsorption and distribution of fluorescent solutes near the articular surface of mechanically injured cartilage.

The development of cartilage-specific imaging agents supports the improvement of tissue assessment by minimally invasive means. Techniques for highlighting cartilage surface damage in clinical images could provide for sensitive indications of posttraumatic injury and early stage osteoarthritis. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that fluorescent solutes interact with cartilage surfaces strongly enough to affect measurement of their partition coefficients within the tissue bulk.

Decreased solute adsorption onto cracked surfaces of mechanically injured articular cartilage: towards the design of cartilage-specific functional contrast agents.

Background: Currently available methods for contrast agent-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) of articular cartilage can only detect cartilage degradation after biochemical changes have occurred within the tissue volume. Differential adsorption of solutes to damaged and intact surfaces of cartilage may be used as a potential mechanism for detection of injuries before biochemical changes in the tissue volume occur.

Methods: Adsorption of four fluorescent macromolecules to surfaces of injured and sliced cartilage explants was studied.

Solute transport across the articular surface of injured cartilage.

Solute transport through extracellular matrix (ECM) is important to physiology and contrast agent-based clinical imaging of articular cartilage. Mechanical injury is likely to have important effects on solute transport since it involves alteration of ECM structure. Therefore it is of interest to characterize effects of mechanical injury on solute transport in cartilage.

Improved characterization of cartilage mechanical properties using a combination of stress relaxation and creep.

Mechanical characterization of cartilage, other soft tissues and gels has become a ubiquitous and essential aspect of biomechanics and biomaterials research. Current progress in theoretical modeling and tools for data analysis often exceed what is required for routine mechanical characterization assays in experimental studies, making selection of methodologies difficult for the nonspecialist. We have therefore developed an approach for measurement of confined compression modulus and hydraulic permeability based on simple poroelasticity theory and requiring only linear regression tools for data analysis.