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Abstract: tissue-engineered cartilage (TEC) remains a potential alternative for the repair of articular cartilage defects. However, there has been a significant different between the properties of TEC and those of natural cartilage. Studies have shown that mechanical stimulation such as compressive load can help regulate matrix remodelling in TEC, thus affecting its biomechanical properties. However, the influences of shear induced from the tissue fluid phase have not been well studied and may play an important role in tissue regeneration especially when integrated with the compressive load. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantitatively investigate the effects of combined loading mechanisms on TEC in vitro. A bespoke biosimulator was built to incorporate the coupled motion of compression, friction and shear. The specimens, encapsulating freshly isolated rabbit chondrocytes in a hydrogel, were cultured within the biosimulator under various mechanical stimulations for 4 weeks, and the tissue activity, matrix contents and the mechanical properties were examined. Study groups were categorized according to different mechanical stimulation combinations, including strain (5–20% at 5% intervals) and frequency (0.25 Hz, 0.5 Hz, 1 Hz), and the effects on tissue behaviour were investigated. During the dynamic culture process, a combined load was applied to simulate the combined effects of compression, friction and shear on articular cartilage during human movement. The results indicated that a larger strain and higher frequency were more favourable for the specimen in terms of the cell proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis. Moreover, the combined mechanical stimulation was more beneficial to matrix remodelling than the single loading motion. However, the contribution of the combined mechanical stimulation to the engineered cartilaginous tissue matrix was not sufficient to impede biodegradation of the tissue with culture time.

西安交通大学王玲、郝志岩等 | 仿生力学刺激对工程化软骨组织性能的影响

本研究论文探究仿生力学刺激对工程化软骨组织性能的影响。组织工程软骨（TEC）是治疗关节软骨缺损的潜在方法。然而，TEC的性能与天然软骨的性能之间存在很大差距。研究表明，压缩载荷等机械刺激可以帮助调节TEC的基质分泌，从而影响其生物力学性能。目前，由组织液相诱导的剪切力对软骨的影响研究尚不清晰，特别是增加压缩载荷的复合载荷在组织再生中的重要作用。因此，本研究的目的是定量研究复合加载机制对体外TEC的影响。设计了一个定制的生物模拟装置，将压缩、摩擦和剪切的耦合运动结合起来，将新鲜分离的兔软骨细胞包裹在水凝胶中，在生物刺激器内进行复合机械刺激培养，并检测组织活性、基质含量和机械性能。根据不同的机械刺激组合（应变：5%~20%，间隔5%；频率：0.25 Hz、0.5 Hz、1 Hz），研究其对组织行为的影响。结果表明，在组织生物活性和合成细胞外基质方面，更大的应变和更高的频率更有利于软骨细胞生存。此外，与单一负荷运动相比复合机械刺激更有利于基质分泌。然而，虽然复合机械刺激对工程化软骨组织基质的分泌有促进作用，但组织随着培养时间的增加依然会出现降解。