Eh. Frank et al., A versatile shear and compression apparatus for mechanical stimulation of tissue culture explants, J BIOMECHAN, 33(11), 2000, pp. 1523-1527
We have developed an incubator housed, biaxial-tissue-loading device capabl
e of applying axial deformations as small as 1 mum and sinusoidal rotations
as small as 0.01 degrees. Axial resolution is 50 nm for applying sinewaves
as low as 10 mum (or 1% based on a 1 mm thickness) or as large as 100 mum
Rotational resolution is 0.0005 degrees. The machine is small enough (30 cm
high x 25 cm x 20 cm) to be placed in a standard incubator for long-term t
issue culture loading studies. In metabolic studies described here, applica
tion of sinusoidal macroscopic shear deformation to articular cartilage exp
lants resulted in a significant increase in the synthesis of proteoglycan a
nd proteins (uptake of S-35-sulfate and H-3-proline) over controls held at
the same static offset compression. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ
ts reserved.