The ultrastructure and biomechanical significance of the tidemark of articular cartilage

Abstract

Thirty specimens of human articular cartilage obtained at surgery were examined by scanning electron microscopy to determine the ultrastructure of the tidemark, the junction of the non-calcified and calcified portions of mature articular cartilage. Three distinct variations of the collagen framework of the tidemark were observed: (1) A band of randomly oriented compacted fibrils that appeared to be continuous with those of the non-calcified and calcified zones. (2) A band of flattened fibrils paralleling the undulating surface of the calcified cartilage. (3) A band of perpendicularly oriented fibrils having a distinct continuous transition between the non-calcified and calcified zones, the amount of calcified material applied about the fibrils rapidly increasing as the fibrils entered the calcified zone. The tidemark may serve to provide a tethering mechanism for the relatively flexible and perpendicularly oriented collagen fibrils of the deepest portion of the non-calcified articular cartilage and may prevent them from being sheared at their point of anchorage to the calcified zone. The undulating pattern of the tidemark affords a strong geometric pattern in providing resistance to the shearing action of articulation. Small gaps present in the tidemark may provide pathways for the passage of nutrients into the deep non-calcified zone of articular cartilage from the subchondral bone.