Abstract

Meniscal repair is widely used as a treatment for meniscus injury. However, where meniscal damage has progressed such that repair is not possible, approaches for partial meniscus replacement are now being developed which have the potential to restore the functional role of the meniscus, in stabilising the knee joint, absorbing and distributing stress during loading, and prevent early degenerative joint disease. One attractive potential solution to the current lack of meniscal replacements is the use of decellularised natural biological scaffolds, derived from xenogeneic tissues, which are produced by treating the native tissue to remove the immunogenic cells. The current study investigated the effect of decellularisation on the biomechanical tensile and compressive (indentation and unconfined) properties of the porcine medial meniscus through an experimental–computational approach. The results showed that decellularised medial porcine meniscus maintained the tensile biomechanical properties of the native meniscus, but had lower tensile initial elastic modulus. In compression, decellularised medial porcine meniscus generally showed lower elastic modulus and higher permeability compared to that of the native meniscus. These changes in the biomechanical properties, which ranged from less than 1% to 40%, may be due to the reduction of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) content during the decellularisation process. The predicted biomechanical properties for the decellularised medial porcine meniscus were within the reported range for the human meniscus, making it an appropriate biological scaffold for consideration as a partial meniscus replacement.

Highlights

  • The meniscus is recognised as having an important role in stabilising the knee joint (Allen et al, 2000), as well as redistributing (Kurosawa et al, 1980; Voloshin and Wosk, 1983) and reducing stress during loading (Fukubayashi and Kurosawa, 1980; Ahmed and Burke, 1983; Ahmed et al, 1983)

  • The results suggested that the decellularisation process had some degree of effect on the biomechanical tensile and compressive properties of the porcine medial meniscus

  • The current study showed that decellularised porcine medial meniscus maintained the tensile biomechanical properties of the native meniscus, but had a lower initial elastic modulus

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Summary

Introduction

The meniscus is recognised as having an important role in stabilising the knee joint (Allen et al, 2000), as well as redistributing (Kurosawa et al, 1980; Voloshin and Wosk, 1983) and reducing stress during loading (Fukubayashi and Kurosawa, 1980; Ahmed and Burke, 1983; Ahmed et al, 1983). The meniscus plays an important role in joint lubrication and nutrient distribution (Allen et al, 1995). Tearing of the meniscus is one of the most common injuries of the knee (Baratz et al, 1986; Muscolo et al, 2006), with a h igh risk of subsequent degenerative changes within the joint if the meniscus is removed

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