TENSILE-STRENGTH OF THE TIBIAL MENISCAL ATTACHMENTS IN THE RABBIT

The rabbit knee is a common model for meniscus replacement, but data o n the failure load of its meniscal attachments are not available. Ther efore we determined the tensile failure load of the normal attachment of the rabbit meniscus. Both knee joints of five adolescent New Zealan d white rabbits were dissected, leaving only the menisci intact on the tibia. Both menisci were sectioned at the midpoint along the circumfe rence, and the anterior attachment of the lateral meniscus and the ant erior and posterior attachments of the medial meniscus were tested on a MTS 858 machine. In the rabbit, the posterior attachment of the late ral meniscus inserts on the femur and thus was not tested. All failure s occurred within the soft tissue of the attachment. The anterior atta chments had significantly different failure loads (lateral, 158 +/- 28 N; medial, 108 +/- 25N), and both were stronger than the posterior att achment of the medial meniscus (75 +/- 23N, p < 0.05). There were no d ifferences between left and right knees. The relatively high failure l oads in the meniscus attachments may be indicative of the normal tensi le loads developed in these structures and the demands on the fixation of a meniscal substitute. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.