Electromechanical probe and automated indentation maps are sensitive techniques in assessing early degenerated human articular cartilage.
Recent advances in the development of new drugs to halt or even reverse the progression of Osteoarthritis at an early-stage requires new tools to detect early degeneration of articular cartilage. We investigated the ability of an electromechanical probe and an automated indentation technique to characterize entire human articular surfaces for rapid non-destructive discrimination between early degenerated and healthy articular cartilage. Human cadaveric asymptomatic articular surfaces (four pairs of distal femurs and four pairs of tibial plateaus) were used. They were assessed ex vivo: macroscopically, electromechanically, (maps of the electromechanical quantitative parameter, QP, reflecting streaming potentials), mechanically (maps of the instantaneous modulus, IM), and through cartilage thickness. Osteochondral cores were also harvested from healthy and degenerated regions for histological assessment, biochemical analyses, and unconfined compression tests. The macroscopic visual assessment delimited three distinct regions on each articular surface: Region I was macroscopically degenerated, region II was macroscopically normal but adjacent to regions I and III was the remaining normal articular surface. Thus, each extracted core was assigned to one of the three regions. A mixed effect model revealed that only the QP (p < 0.0001) and IM (p < 0.0001) were able to statistically discriminate the three regions. Effect size was higher for QP and IM than other assessments, indicating greater sensitivity to distinguish early degeneration of cartilage. When considering the mapping feature of the QP and IM techniques, it also revealed bilateral symmetry in a moderately similar distribution pattern between bilateral joints. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:858-867, 2017.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.|Biomomentum Inc., 970 Michelin St., Suite 200, Laval, Quebec H7L 5C1, Canada.
Sotcheadt
S
Sim
Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.
Anik
A
Chevrier
Biomomentum Inc., 970 Michelin St., Suite 200, Laval, Quebec H7L 5C1, Canada.
Martin
M
Garon
Biomomentum Inc., 970 Michelin St., Suite 200, Laval, Quebec H7L 5C1, Canada.
Eric
E
Quenneville
Department of Surgery, University of Montreal, P.O. Box 6128, Station Centre-Ville, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada.
Patrick
P
Lavigne
Vital Systems, Inc., 3701 Algonquin Rd, Suite 360 Rolling Meadows, Illinois, 60008.
Alex
A
Yaroshinsky
Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.|Groupe de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies Biomédicales, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.
Caroline D
CD
Hoemann
Department of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.|Groupe de Recherche en Sciences et Technologies Biomédicales, Polytechnique Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, Canada.
Michael D
MD
Buschmann
D001331:Automation; D002102:Cadaver; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
articular cartilage; cartilage diagnostic; mechanics; osteoarthritis; streaming potentials