Abstract
We have been developing a method of cartilage repair by means of a stem cell-based tissue engineered construct (TEC). The present study was performed to determine the coefficient of friction of cartilage-like tissue repaired with TEC. Amass of TEC was implanted into a cylindrically-shaped chondro defect created on the bearing surface of porcine femoral cartilage. Immediately and 60s after the application of compressive force, the coefficient of friction of the TEC-treated tissue was slightly decreased with the increase of load. Although, the coefficient of friction was significantly higher in the TEC-untreated tissue than in the normal cartilage immediately after the application of compressive load, no significant difference was observed as regard with coefficient of friction between the TEC-treated tissue and normal cartilage in all the conditions.
