An unresolved challenge in osteoarthritis research is characterising the localised intra-tissue mechanical response of articular cartilage. The aim of this study was to explore whether laboratory micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and digital volume correlation (DVC) permit non-destructive visualisation of three-dimensional (3D) strain fields in human articular cartilage. Human articular cartilage specimens were harvested from the knee (n=4 specimens from 2 doners), mounted into a loading device and imaged in the loaded and unloaded state using a micro-CT scanner. Strain was calculated throughout the volume of the cartilage using the CT image data.Abstract
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