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SUMMARY:Knee Joint Meniscus Mechanobiology - T. L. Haut Donahue (Michigan 
 Tech University)
DTSTART:20080207T160000Z
DTEND:20080207T170000Z
UID:TALK9700@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Michelle L. Oyen
DESCRIPTION:Meniscal tissue is a fibrocartilagenous tissue in your knee th
 at is frequently injured/torn during high impact activity\, or as a result
  of the aging process. While it has long been established that meniscectom
 y\, or removal of damaged meniscal tissue\, leads to osteoarthritis\, the 
 role of the knee joint meniscus in the progression of osteoarthritis has r
 eceived much less attention. This presentation will describe the work comp
 leted to date aimed at understanding the role of the meniscus in knee join
 t behavior both biomechanically and biochemically. Computational models of
  the human knee joint will be presented that have been used to determine t
 he loading environment in the knee following varying degrees of partial me
 niscectomy. These stresses and strains following partial meniscectomy have
  been used to drive an in vitro study of the biochemical consequences of b
 oth underloading the meniscus as well as overloading (a condition resultin
 g from partial meniscectomy). An in vitro bioreactor has been constructed 
 to simulate the mechanical environment in the knee and compress meniscal t
 issue explants. Through our bioreactor stimulations\, we have shown that r
 emoving 30% or more of the meniscus leads to proteoglycan breakdown and el
 evated levels of catabolic biomolecules responsible for cell death and mat
 rix disruption in the remaining meniscal tissue. This research provides a 
 fundamental understanding of meniscus mechanobiology that may be helpful i
 n the development of tissue engineered meniscal replacements. Additionally
 \, this work could be used to significantly reduce the incidences of osteo
 arthritis resulting from meniscal tissue deficiencies.
LOCATION:Engineering Department - Room LR 4
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