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Updated: May 18, 2026

Tissue Collection and RNA Extraction from the Human Osteoarthritic Knee Joint
Published on: July 22, 2021
The basic science of human knee menisci: structure, composition, and function
Alice J S Fox1, Asheesh Bedi, Scott A Rodeo
1Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, New York.
Context:
Information regarding the structure, composition, and function of the knee menisci has been scattered across multiple sources and fields. This review contains a concise, detailed description of the knee menisci-including anatomy, etymology, phylogeny, ultrastructure and biochemistry, vascular anatomy and neuroanatomy, biomechanical function, maturation and aging, and imaging modalities.
Evidence Acquisition:
A literature search was performed by a review of PubMed and OVID articles published from 1858 to 2011.
Results:
This study highlights the structural, compositional, and functional characteristics of the menisci, which may be relevant to clinical presentations, diagnosis, and surgical repairs.
Conclusions:
An understanding of the normal anatomy and biomechanics of the menisci is a necessary prerequisite to understanding the pathogenesis of disorders involving the knee.
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