Articular cartilage is a complex, heterogeneous biological tissue.  The physical properties of cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) is not fully understood, especially at the microscopic scale.  The concentration and arrangement of ECM components vary across the tissue.  Understanding how these local variations contribute to cartilage function (i.e., load-bearing) is a complicated problem, which requires the characterization of local and bulk mechanical properties of a soft composite material over several scales of hierarchical organization.  To characterize soft biomaterials, a variety of testing techniques have been developed and utilized.  Nanoindentation by the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a powerful tool to conduct mechanical analyses, especially at high resolution, down to nanometer scale. Nano-mechanical testing allows for mapping tissue inhomogeneities and studying cell mechanics.  We combined nano-mechanical measurements with tissue osmometry using a micro-osmometer developed to map local osmotic properties of heterogeneous biological materials. The biomechanical properties of cartilage were determined as a function of depth from the articular surface using AFM in tandem with osmotic swelling pressure measurements.  The osmotic modulus was determined for each zone.  It is found that the superficial and deep zones have higher stiffness than the middle zone.  The results of systematic investigations made on bovine cartilage specimens will be presented/discussed.  Our experimental approach may provide a useful tool to quantify changes in cartilage biomechanical properties during growth and development, and with aging and degenerative joint disease.<br/>

Nanomechanical properties of cartilage probed by micro-osmometry and atomic force microscopy

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.