**Acknowledgement**

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project "NTIS - New Technologies for Information Society", European Centre of Excellence, CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0090. The micro-CT technique was developed within the CENTEM project, reg. no. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0088, which is cofunded from the ERDF within the OP RDI program of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The corrosion casting was funded by the Charles University in Prague, Project No. SVV 264808, and by the Internal Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic under Project No. IGA MZ ČR 13326. The quantification of vascular trees was funded by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Project No. 106/09/0740. The bone scaffold research was funded by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, Project No. P304/10/1307, and by the The Grant Agency of the Charles University, Project GAUK No. 96610.

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**Chapter 11** 

© 2012 Landínez-Parra et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Mechanical Behavior of Articular Cartilage** 

Articular Cartilage (AC) is a poro-elastic biological material that allows the distribution of mechanical loads and joint movements. As a biphasic material, in the presence of load, the articular cartilage deforms its solid matrix and modifies the fluid hydrostatic pressure within. The aim of this chapter is to present a mathematical model that predicts the mechanical behavior of articular cartilage, taking into account the duality between the solid matrix and articular liquid, and its poro-elastic characteristics. Using a finite element method approach, the response of a piece of articular cartilage in one and two dimensions has been simulated, with tensile, compressive and oscillatory mechanical loads. The analysis of the results allows a qualitative validation of the poro-elastic behavior of the model due to the solid matrix deformation and the fluid outflow that causes variations of pressures inside the articular cartilage in accordance with reported trials. The mathematical model allows for prediction of articular cartilage's biomechanical behavior. These results contribute to the

research processes in fields of study such as biomechanics and tissue engineering.

OA was present in 21 million individuals (Lawrence et al., 1998).

One of the pathologic entities that most often affect quality of life of individuals is osteoarthrosis (OA), which is caused by the deterioration of cartilage in synovial joints. In the U.S. in the early nineties it was estimated that 37.9 million people (which constituted 15% of the population) suffered from one of the various existing musculoskeletal diseases.

OA compromises skeletal muscle function, causing pain and difficulty in basic activities of daily living. Several studies have shown that the forces exerted on cartilage can modify its structure and composition, resulting in a change in the biomechanical behavior of the same (Wu & Kirk, 2001). The onset and progression of OA are commonly affected by mechanical factors associated with either joint loading or local contact stress (Andriacchi et al., 2004).

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Nancy S. Landínez-Parra, Diego A. Garzón-Alvarado

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

and Juan Carlos Vanegas-Acosta

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/46881

**1. Introduction** 

**2. Background** 
