Utilization of Finite Element Analysis for Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Scaffold design plays an essential role in tissue engineering of articular cartilage by providing the appropriate mechanical and biological environment for chondrocytes to proliferate and function. Optimization of scaffold design to generate tissue-engineered cartilage has traditionally been conducted using in-vitro and in-vivo models. Recent advances in computational analysis allow us to significantly decrease the time and cost of scaffold optimization using finite element analysis (FEA). FEA is an in-silico analysis technique that allows for scaffold design optimization by predicting mechanical responses of cells and scaffolds under applied loads. Finite element analyses can potentially mimic the morphology of cartilage using mesh elements (tetrahedral, hexahedral), material properties (elastic, hyperelastic, poroelastic, composite), physiological loads by applying loading conditions (static, dynamic), and constitutive stress–strain equations (linear, porous–elastic, biphasic). Furthermore, FEA can be applied to the study of the effects of dynamic loading, material properties cell differentiation, cell activity, scaffold structure optimization, and interstitial fluid flow, in isolated or combined multi-scale models. This review covers recent studies and trends in the use of FEA for cartilage tissue engineering and scaffold design.

Osteoarthritis Severely Decreases the Elasticity and Hardness of Knee Joint Cartilage: A Nanoindentation Study

“…The results provide insight into the mechanical behavior of the cartilage at different stages of OA in correlation to the patients’ ages, which is essential from the clinical perspective. Matching the mechanical characteristics of the tissue and graft is crucially important for proper integration with the surrounding tissue [38,39,40,41]. Currently, there are no methods to select an ideal biomaterial-based graft for repairing cartilage lesions.…”

Computational technology for nasal cartilage-related clinical research and application

“…Meanwhile, finite element analysis of cartilage-related bioengineering scaffold materials has been widely used in the articular cartilage field, which is also expected to be a potential direction of nasal cartilage-related and even nasal chondrocyte-related research. 74,75 A combination of finite element analysis and clinical practice should be specifically carried out in future studies. Finite element analysis should be regarded as an assistive tool for clinical research, as the verification of computational simulations is very important for reaching a conclusion.…”

“…Meanwhile, finite element analysis of cartilage-related bioengineering scaffold materials has been widely used in the articular cartilage field, which is also expected to be a potential direction of nasal cartilage-related and even nasal chondrocyte-related research. 74 , 75 …”

Advanced 3D Cell Culture Techniques in Micro-Bioreactors, Part II: Systems and Applications

“…With the help of these models, biological processes are simulated by computers in order to obtain results comparable to in vitro-experiments. In the field of cartilage TE, for example, scaffold structures were optimized using finite element analysis (FEA) and cell differentiation was calculated with in silico-models to determine optimal parameters for chondrogenic or osteogenic differentiation [248]. In silico-models are also used in cancer research or toxicology [235,249,250].…”