Articular Cartilage

Until the processes occurring at healthy cartilage
are not widely
known, it is impossible to understand which factors
have a decisive
influence on pathological changes in diseases like
osteoarthritis.
Apart from the biochemical interactions, the
mechanical behaviour
of the articular cartilage plays a decisive role.
During every joint
motion enormous loads affect the bearing surface and
normally
cause no damage on the thin layers of cartilage. In
order to evaluate
this outstanding performance, unconfined compression
and atomic
force microscopy (AFM) were utilized to gain a
detailed impression
of the hyaline cartilage derived from the bovine knee
joint. With
regard to the compression, static, creep and dynamic
tests were
applied to qualify the cartilage s reaction towards
external loads. In
contrast, the atomic force microscope (AFM) assisted
in the
description of the surface structure and the
roughness values of the
cartilage s surface layer. This book exposes a
detailed picture of the
hyaline cartilage located at the bovine knee joint
that is regarded to
be of interest for all kind of (bio)medical scientists.

Autorentext

Stephanie Mehl, Dipl.-Ing(FH) / B.Eng. : Studies of medicalengineering at the University of Applied Scienes Ulm (D) and at the University ofBradford (UK), R&D engineer at WW Technology AG,Schlieren (CH)

Klappentext

Until the processes occurring at healthy cartilageare not widely known, it is impossible to understand which factorshave a decisive influence on pathological changes in diseases likeosteoarthritis. Apart from the biochemical interactions, themechanical behaviour of the articular cartilage plays a decisive role.During every joint motion enormous loads affect the bearing surface andnormally cause no damage on the thin layers of cartilage. Inorder to evaluate this outstanding performance, unconfined compressionand atomic force microscopy (AFM) were utilized to gain adetailed impression of the hyaline cartilage derived from the bovine kneejoint. With regard to the compression, static, creep and dynamictests were applied to qualify the cartilage's reaction towardsexternal loads. In contrast, the atomic force microscope (AFM) assistedin the description of the surface structure and theroughness values of the cartilage's surface layer. This book exposes adetailed picture of the hyaline cartilage located at the bovine knee jointthat is regarded to be of interest for all kind of (bio)medical scientists.