Prediction of Collagen and Glycosaminoglycan Content by Acoustic Microscopy

Published

April 21, 2010

Author(s)

Jenni R. Popp, Colm Flannery, Tammy L. Oreskovic, Jennifer Recknor, Kristi S. Anseth, Timothy P. Quinn

Abstract

Functional tissue engineering of articular cartilage is rapidly advancing as a technique to develop regenerative and reparative treatments for cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis. Tissue engineered constructs are often developed using a combination of cells, polymer scaffolds, biochemical mediators, and mechanical cues, and are then evaluated by a variety of histological, biochemical, and mechanical techniques. However, testing methods are often time-consuming and destructive to the construct; creating the need for real-time, non-destructive measurement techniques. High frequency ultrasound has been demonstrated as a technique sensitive to mechanical and biochemical properties of cartilage. The objective of this research was to investigate the correlation between attenuated reflection coefficient and the concentration of collagen and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) in enzymatically degraded bovine articular cartilage, with implications for evaluating the quality of tissue engineered cartilage during development. Bovine articular cartilage explants were digested in type II collagenase for 1, 2, 3, or 4 h. Biochemical assays and histological staining for collagen and proteoglycan and were used to characterize samples. Acoustic microscopy with a 50 MHz acoustic transducer was used to image samples and to extract information about changing tissue properties and their relationship to high frequency ultrasonic wave propagation properties. Attenuated reflection coefficient is directly correlated with the concentration of both GAG and collagen in bovine articular cartilage. These results have implications for the use of ultrasonic acoustic microscopy to non-destructively evaluate the development of tissue engineered cartilage.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Society for Biomaterials

Conference Dates

April 21-24, 2010

Conference Location

Seattle, WA, US

Conference Title

2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Society for Biomaterials

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

tissue engineered cartilage, acoustic microscopy, glycosaminoglycan, collagen, attenuated reflection coefficient

Citation

Popp, J. , Flannery, C. , Oreskovic, T. , Recknor, J. , Anseth, K. and Quinn, T. (2010), Prediction of Collagen and Glycosaminoglycan Content by Acoustic Microscopy, Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Society for Biomaterials, Seattle, WA, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=904329 (Accessed January 25, 2025)