Browsing by Author "Yeralimova, Kamila"

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    STRUCTURAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COLLAGENS IN RABBIT MENISCUS
    (Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, 2024-07) Yeralimova, Kamila
    The meniscus in the knee plays an important role in the proper functioning of the knee joint and the maintenance of its health. It protects the femur and tibia from wearing, lubricates, and provides nutrients and oxygen for the tissues in the knee joint. The meniscus cannot heal spontaneously due to its low vascularization and continuous deformation. Therefore, severe meniscus tears remain a significant clinical challenge. The most common method of treatment is to remove the damaged part of the tissue, however, since this procedure removes a layer of protection between the femur and tibia bones, the friction created by the continuous movement of the joint components damages the articular cartilage and, as a result, leads to osteoarthritis (OA). Accordingly, alternative strategies, including tissue engineering (TE), are needed to overcome the clinical challenge. In TE-based approaches, a scaffold that mimics the properties of the native tissue structure is essential for the cells to reside and synthesize the tissue components, simultaneously serving as a support material. The design and fabrication of such a scaffold require knowledge about the properties of the native tissue, including the structural organization of the components. In this study, the meniscus tissues harvested from rabbits were characterized in terms of collagen fiber diameter distribution, cellular organization and modulus. The findings revealed that the collagen fibril diameter ranged from 50 nm to 170 nm and from 30 nm to 130 nm for medial and lateral meniscus, respectively. Average fibril diameters for medial and lateral regions of the meniscus were found as 91.41.±26.7 and 50.86±19.1, respectively. The histology images demonstrated that the cells were evenly distributed over the entire tissue. In the upper part of the meniscus, the compressive moduli measured in the top region, middle region, and bottom region were determined to be 0.019±0.03, 0.00015±0.0001, and 0.0006±0.00019 MPa, respectively. In the lower part of the meniscus, the compressive moduli measured in the top region, middle region, and bottom region were determined to be 2.19±1.5, 1.22±0.37, and 1.08±0.66 MPa. The findings of this can provide significant input for the design and fabrication of biomaterial scaffolds for meniscus repair and regeneration.