Tribological evaluation of a novel hybrid for repair of articular cartilage defects
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The friction and wear properties of silica/poly(tetrahydrofuran)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (SiO2/PTHF/PCL-diCOOH) hybrid materials that are proposed as cartilage tissue engineering materials were investigated against living articular cartilage. A testing rig was designed to allow testing against fresh bovine cartilage. The friction force and wear were compared for five compositions of the hybrid biomaterial articulating against freshly harvested bovine cartilage in diluted bovine calf serum. Under a non-migrating contact, the friction force increased and hence shear force applied to the opposing articular cartilage also increased, resulting in minor damage to the cartilage surface. This worse case testing scenario was used to discriminate between material formulations and revealed the increase in friction and damaged area was lowest for the hybrid containing the most silica. Further friction and wear tests on one hybrid formulation with an elastic modulus closest to that of cartilage were then conducted in a custom incubator system. This demonstrated that over a five day period the friction force, cell viability and glucosaminoglycan (GAG) release into the lubricant were similar between a cartilage-cartilage interface and the hybrid-cartilage interface, supporting the use of these materials for cartilage repair. These results demonstrate how tribology testing can play a part in the development of new materials for chondral tissue engineering.
Date Issued
2021-02
Date Acceptance
2020-09-06
Citation
Materials Science and Engineering C: Materials for Biological Applications, 2021, 119, pp.1-10
ISSN
0928-4931
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
10
Journal / Book Title
Materials Science and Engineering C: Materials for Biological Applications
Volume
119
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
National Institute for Health Research
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0928493120334135
Grant Number
EP/K027549/1
EP/N025059/1
NIHR300013
Subjects
0903 Biomedical Engineering
0912 Materials Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
111495
Date Publish Online
2020-09-09