Mechanical Behavior of Porcine Knee Joint Cartilage by Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is most common degenerative joint disease in orthopaedic field. It is important for the prevention of OA progression to detect at early stage. Because of non-invasive advantages of laser irradiation, Raman spectroscopy is known to be useful tool for the analysis of material at ultra-structural level. The aim of this study are to observe the mechanical behaviors of biomolecules in cartilage matrix by using Raman spectroscopy and to investigate the relationships of each Raman peak of cartilage matrix between the Raman shift and stress state. By using the Raman spectroscopy, The Raman bands of proline, phenylalanine, amide I and hydroxyproline significantly shifted to positive direction under tensile stress. From the results, it could be experimentally confirmed that these biomolecules in cartilage matrix act important mechanical roles by using Raman spectroscopy. Therefore, this study could indicate the possibility of Raman spectroscopy for mechanical evaluation of cartilage matrix of osteoarthritis.