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. 2005 Jun;38(6):1343-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2004.05.045.

Effects of enzymatic degradation on the frictional response of articular cartilage in stress relaxation

Ines M Basalo  1 , David Raj, Ramaswamy Krishnan, Faye H Chen, Clark T Hung, Gerard A Ateshian
Affiliations

Effects of enzymatic degradation on the frictional response of articular cartilage in stress relaxation

Ines M Basalo et al. J Biomech. 2005 Jun.

Abstract

It was recently shown experimentally that the friction coefficient of articular cartilage correlates with the interstitial fluid pressurization, supporting the hypothesis that interstitial water pressurization plays a fundamental role in the frictional response by supporting most of the load during the early time response. A recent study showed that enzymatic treatment with chondroitinase ABC causes a decrease in the maximum fluid load support of bovine articular cartilage in unconfined compression. The hypothesis of this study is that treatment with chondroitinase ABC will increase the friction coefficient of articular cartilage in stress relaxation. Articular cartilage samples (n = 34) harvested from the femoral condyles of five bovine knee joints (1-3 months old) were tested in unconfined compression with simultaneous continuous sliding (+/-1.5 mm at 1 mm/s) under stress relaxation. Results showed a significantly higher minimum friction coefficient in specimens treated with 0.1 micro/ml of chondroitinase ABC for 24 h (micro(min) = 0.082+/-0.024) compared to control specimens (micro(min) = 0.047+/-0.014). Treated samples also exhibited higher equilibrium friction coefficient (micro(eq) = 0.232+/-0.049) than control samples (micro(eq) = 0.184+/-0.036), which suggest that the frictional response is greatly influenced by the degree of tissue degradation. The fluid load support was predicted from theory, and the maximum value (as a percentage of the total applied load) was lower in treated specimens (77+/-12%) than in control specimens (85+/-6%). Based on earlier findings, the increase in the ratio micro(min)/micro(eq) may be attributed to the decrease in fluid load support.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram of the friction testing device. The detail shows the orientation of the specimen relative to the glass slide and the sliding direction.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average response and standard deviation of the friction coefficient for the chondroitinase treatment and control groups
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average (a) minimum and (b) equilibrium friction coefficient for all groups
Figure 4
Figure 4
Fluid load support vs. friction coefficient for representative samples in (a) control group and (b) chondroitinase treatment group
Figure 5
Figure 5
Average response and standard deviation of the predicted fluid load support for the chondroitinase treatment and control groups
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References

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