Matrix and cell injury due to sub‐impact loading of adult bovine articular cartilage explants: effects of strain rate and peak stress

Mechanical overloading of cartilage has been implicated in the initiation and progression of osteoarthrosis. Our objectives were to identify threshold levels of strain rate and peak stress at which sub‐impact loads could induce cartilage matrix damage and chondrocyte injury in bovine osteochondral explants and to explore relationships between matrix damage, spatial patterns of cell injury, and applied loads. Single sub‐impact loads characterized by a constant strain rate between 3 × 10−5 and 0.7 s−1 to a peak stress between 3.5 and 14 MPa were applied, after which explants were maintained in culture for four days. At the higher strain rates, matrix mechanical failure (tissue cracks) and cell deactivation were most severe near the cartilage superficial zone and were associated with sustained increased release of proteoglycan from explants. In contrast, low strain rate loading was associated with cell deactivation in the absence of visible matrix damage. Furthermore, cell activity and proteoglycan synthesis were suppressed throughout the cartilage depth, but in a radially dependent manner with the most severe effects at the center of cylindrical explants. Results highlight spatial patterns of matrix damage and cell injury which depend upon the nature of injurious loading applied. These patterns of injury may also differ in terms of their long‐term implications for progression of degradative disease and possibilities for cartilage repair. © 2001 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.