It is well known that subtle changes in structure and tissue composition of articular cartilage can lead to its degeneration. The present paper puts forward a modified layered inhomogeneous triphasic model with four parameters based on the inhomogeneous triphasic model proposed by Narmoneva et al. Incorporating a piecewise fitting optimization criterion, the new model was used to obtain the uniaxial modulus Ha, and predict swelling pattern for the articular cartilage based on ultrasound-measured swelling strain data. The results show that the new method can be used to provide more accurate estimation on the uniaxial modulus than the inhomogeneous triphasic model with three parameters and the homogeneous mode, and predict effectively the swell- ing strains of highly nonuniform distribution of degenerated articular cartilages. This study can provide supplementary information for exploring mechanical and material properties of the cartilage, and thus be helpful for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis-related diseases.
Many studies have shown that strategies of nerve regeneration and cell-based transplantation are valid based on animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI).To apply these strategies and bridge spinal cord defects,the identification and precise localization of lesions during spinal cord surgery is necessary.The aim of the present experiment was to evaluate the capabilities of ultrasound backscatter microscopy (UBM) in identifying morphologic changes after SCI.After laminectomy,high-resolution ultrasound images of the spinal cord were obtained in one normal and seven spinal cord-injured adult Wistar rats using a UBM system with a 55-MHz center frequency scanner.Comparison between histoanatomic and UBM images was also performed.The results showed that UBM can identify cysts after the experimental SCI is removed in adult rats.In addition,the glial scar formed in secondary injury showed obvious hyperechoic speckle in the UBM image and correlated with the histoanatomic image.UBM has obvious clinical value in nerve regeneration and cell-based transplantation strategies in injured spinal cords.
