Abstract
The human body is capable of sensing and adapting to mechanical stimuli, especially the musculoskeletal system. For example, joints in the knee undertake high loads up to several times of the body weight during activities such as running and jumping. The tissue responds to such stress by remodeling itself to better withstand the load. Synovial joints are functionally and structurally immature post-birth, where the epiphysis is composed almost entirely of cartilaginous tissue. As the joint matures, chondrocytes in this region become hypertrophic and the tissue undergoes endochondral ossification where the cartilaginous matrix is mineralized into bone tissue. Mechanical stimulation, such as hydrostatic pressure (HP), is hypothesized to be involved in this process. In this study, we isolated synovial joints from juvenile rats and applied HP ex vivo to examine its effect on joint maturation. From histological analysis and quantification of ECM proteins, we observed that HP can accelerate endochondral ossification.
