In this study, the influence of hydrostatic pressure loading on mechanical properties of chondrocytes-agarose specimens was investigated. After 1 day, 8 days and 22 days in unstrained culture, the specimens were exposed to hydrostatic pressure (1MPa, 1Hz, 6h/day) for 7 days. Then, tangent and equilibrium moduli of the specimens were obtained by unconfined compression test. The results showed that the hydrostatic pressure loading at the early stage of culture improved tangent moduli of specimens, but if the extracellular matrix was formed around the cells in advance, the effect of hydrostatic pressure loading did not appear.
