Warnecke D, Balko J, Haas J, Bieger R, Leucht F, Wolf N, Schild NB, Stein SEC, Seitz AM, Ignatius A, Reichel H, Mizaikoff B, Dürselen L. Degeneration alters the biomechanical properties and structural composition of lateral human menisci.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2020;
28:1482-1491. [PMID:
32739340 DOI:
10.1016/j.joca.2020.07.004]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/20/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Because the literature relating to the influence of degeneration on the viscoelasticity and tissue composition of human lateral menisci remains contradictory or completely lacking, the aim of this study was to fill these gaps by comprehensively characterising the biomechanical properties of menisci with regard to the degree of degeneration.
DESIGN
Meniscal tissue from 24 patients undergoing a total knee replacement was collected and the degeneration of each region classified according to Pauli et al. For biomechanical characterisation, compression and tensile tests were performed. Additionally, the water content was determined and infrared (IR) spectroscopy was applied to detect changes in the structural composition, particularly of the proteoglycan and collagen content.
RESULTS
With an increasing degree of degeneration, a significant decrease of the equilibrium modulus was detected, while simultaneously the water content and the hydraulic permeability significantly increased. However, the tensile modulus displayed a tendency to decrease with increasing degeneration, which might be due to the significantly decreasing amount of collagen content identified by the IR measurements.
CONCLUSION
The findings of the current study may contribute to the understanding of meniscus degeneration, showing that degenerative processes appear to mainly worsen viscoelastic properties of the inner circumference by disrupting the collagen integrity.
Collapse