Mechanical property of in vitro regenerated cartilage

Damaged articular cartilage has a very limited capability of self-healing. The need for improved treatment of cartilage defects, which involve over 1 percent of population in Japan, has motivated research to create regenerated cartilage. Regenerated cartilage is engineered by culturing autologous chondrocytes on biodegradable scaffolds. We studied changes in biomechanical property, especially dynamic visco-elasticity during 6 weeks of in vitro culture. The results suggest that the ability of water holding was increased by new extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis during 4 weeks of in vitro culture, although the ability of solid matrix (ECM and scaffold) to resist compression elastically was reduced.