Rehydration of lyophilised cartilage grafts sterilized by different methods.

In in vitro experiments weight increase and rehydration speed of lyophilised cartilage grafts sterilized by different methods were determined. For periods of up to 72 h the increase in weight during rehydration was measured. The methods of sterilization used is only of little significance for such weight increase. Differences in rehydration speed clearly correlate with the initial weight of the lyophilised cartilage grafts. Smaller grafts are completely rehydrated after 5 to 6 h. This may explain the discrepancies in rehydration speed reported in the literature.