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Comparative equilibrium mechanical properties of bovine and lamprey cartilaginous tissues

Hayden-William Courtland¹, Glenda M. Wright¹, Robert G. Root² and M. Edwin DeMont^3,*

¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, UPEI Atlantic Veterinary College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, C1A 4P3, Canada
² Department of Mathematics, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, USA
³ Department of Biology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5, Canada

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Schematic diagram detailing several skeletal elements of the adult sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus. Annular cartilage (a), piston cartilage (pi), branchial cartilage (br), pericardial cartilage (per).

View larger version (9K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the custom-built uniaxial lever system and associated instrument interfaces. Servo motor (A), lever arm (B), bathing chamber (C), cartilage plate/clamp (D), annular cartilage sample (E), video camera (F), multifunction synthesizer (G), Servo motor control console (H), digitizing oscilloscope (I), computer (J).

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Schematic diagram illustrating the orientation of cartilage samples during isolation and experimental loading. Samples from lamprey pericardial cartilage (A) were taken across the posterior portion of the `bowl-like' tissue (note that only part of the sample appears in the three-dimensional view). Lamprey annular cartilage samples (B) were cubes taken from the anterior portion of the annular ring. Bovine auricular cartilage samples (C) were taken for both tensile and compressive tests (D).

View larger version (145K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Representative hematoxylin and eosin staining of lamprey and bovine cartilages. (A) Lamprey pericardial cartilage. (B) Lamprey annular cartilage. (C) Bovine auricular cartilage. Outer perichondrium (op), perichondrium (p), inner perichondrium (ip), blood vessels (b), adipose cells (a), elastic fibers (e). Scale bars, 100 µm.

View larger version (138K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. 1-µm-thick toluidine blue-stained horizontal resin section of lamprey pericardial cartilage illustrating the non-parallel arrangement of collagen fibers (CF) in the outer perichondrium. Arrows indicate small folds in the section. Scale bar, 40 µm.

View larger version (139K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. 1-µm-thick toluidine blue-stained lateral resin section of lamprey annular cartilage showing a typical cartilage canal. Noncollagenous extracellular matrix (ECM), red blood cells (rbc), blood vessel (b), ground substance (g), collagen fibers (f). Scale bar, 70 µm.

View larger version (11K): [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Characteristic stress-relaxation curves for cartilages. (A) Aged annular cartilage sample under an 8.5% compressive strain. (B) Bovine auricular cartilage under a 17.5% compressive strain.

View larger version (8K): [in a new window]   Fig. 8. Characteristic stress-strain curve for lamprey cartilage. Data shown are from an aged lamprey annular cartilage sample. The linear regression equation for this curve is y=3.0898x-0.0446, r2=0.99.