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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Volume 13 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1485593
Experimental investigation of the reverse mechano-electrical effect on porcine articular cartilage
Provisionally accepted
Chunsheng Liu 1 Le Zhao 1 Hao Dong 1 Zekun Hua 1 Yanqin Wang 1 Yongxing Wang 2 Pengcui Li 3
Xiaochun Wei 3 Kai Zhang 4
Xue Yanru 1*
Xiaogang Wu 1*
Weiyi Chen 1*- 1 College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Shanxi, China
- 2 Taiyuan Great Health Technology Health Management Co., Ltd, Taiyuan, China
- 3 Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory for Repair of Bone and Soft Tissue Injury, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 4 Huajin Orthopaedic Hospital, Taiyuan, China
The electric signals within the cartilage tissue are essential to biological systems and play a significant role in cartilage regeneration. Therefore, this study analyzed and investigated the reverse mechano-electrical effect in porcine articular cartilage and its related influencing factors. The deflection of cartilage samples in an electric field was measured to analyze the mechanisms of different factors affecting the reverse mechano-electrical effect in articular cartilage. The results showed that the cartilage thickness, water content, and externally applied voltage all impacted the deflection of the cartilage. The fitting results of the experimental data indicated that cartilage thickness influenced the dielectric constant and moment of inertia of the cartilage in the electric field, thereby affecting the magnitude of the electric field force and deflection of the cartilage. The reduction in cartilage water content resulted in a decrease in cartilage thickness, following the same influencing mechanism as thickness. On the other hand, an increase in the externally applied voltage led to an increase in the electric field force within the cartilage space, consequently increasing the deflection of the cartilage in the electric field. Additionally, the externally applied voltage also caused a slight temperature rise in the vicinity of the cartilage specimens, and the magnitude of the temperature increase was proportional to the externally applied voltage. This may provide valuable insights for further investigation into the microscopic mechanisms of cell proliferation, differentiation, and cartilage regeneration induced by electrical stimulation.
Keywords: articular cartilage, reverse mechano-electrical effect, cartilage's thickness, water content, Externally applied voltage
Received: 24 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhao, Dong, Hua, Wang, Wang, Li, Wei, Zhang, Yanru, Wu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xue Yanru, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Shanxi, China
Xiaogang Wu, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Shanxi, China
Weiyi Chen, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Shanxi, China
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