Meniscal tissue

The following discussion is useful in designing a template for tissue repair and regeneration applications. By way of an example, the design parameters listed below are specifically applied to the development of a resorbable collagen based template for guiding meniscal tissue repair and regeneration in the knee joint. 

The physical dimension of a template defines the boundary of regeneration. Thus, the size of the collagen template should match the tissue defect to be repaired. A properly sized meniscal substitute has been found to function better than a substitute which mismatches the physical dimension of the host meniscus [Rodkey et al., 1998 Sommerlath et al., 1991]. For a porous, elastic matrix such as the one designed from collagen for meniscal tissue repair, the shape of the meniscus is further defined in vivo by the space available between the femoral condyles and tibial plateau within the synovial joint. 

The anisotropic viscoelastic properties in shear of the meniscus have been determined by subjecting discs of meniscal tissue to sinusoidal torsional loading [35](Table B2.8). The specimens were cut in the three directions of orthotropic symmetry, i.e. circumferential, axial and radial. A definite correlation is seen with the orientation of the fibers and both the magnitude of the dynamic modulus IG I and the phase angle 8. 

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