Abstract
Mechanical preconditioning and mechanical properties of tissue engineered constructs are essential for their capability to regenerate damaged tissues. To online monitor the mechanical properties a hydrostatic pressure bioreactor was coupled with optical coherence tomography into a new image modality termed hydrostatic pressure optical coherence elastography (HP-OCE). HP-OCE was utilised to assess the properties of three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs while being physically stimulated within the hydrostatic force bioreactor. Hydrogels have been infiltrated into porous rapid prototyped or salt-leached scaffolds to mimic heterogeneous mechanical properties of cell-seeded constructs. Variations of mechanical properties in the solid scaffolds and agarose gels with different gel concentrations as well as the presences of cells have been clearly delineated by HP-OCE. Results indicate that HP-OCE allows contactless real-time non-invasive monitoring of the mechanical properties of tissue constructs and the effect of physical stimulation on cellular activities.
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