Ultrasound Elastography for Estimation of Regional Strain of Multilayered Hydrogels and Tissue-Engineered Cartilage.

ABSTRACT: Tissue-engineered (TE) cartilage constructs tend to develop inhomogeneously, thus, to predict the mechanical performance of the tissue, conventional biomechanical testing, which yields average material properties, is of limited value. Rather, techniques for evaluating regional and depth-dependent properties of TE cartilage, preferably non-destructively, are required. The purpose of this study was to build upon our previous results and to investigate the feasibility of using ultrasound elastography to non-destructively assess the depth-dependent biomechanical characteristics of TE cartilage while in a sterile bioreactor. As a proof-of-concept, and to standardize an assessment protocol, a well-characterized three-layered hydrogel construct was used as a surrogate for TE cartilage, and was st

SUBMITTER: Chung CY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4626304 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature