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Updated: Apr 2, 2026
Addressing Practical Issues in Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Micro-Indentation on Human Articular Cartilage Explants
Published on: October 28, 2022
Characteristic X-ray absorptiometry applied to the assessment of tissue-engineered cartilage development
Masaki Misawa1, Naotaka Nitta1, Yoshio Shirasaki1
1Institute for Human Science and Biomedical Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Background:
Transmission and tomographic X-ray measurements are useful in assessing bone structures, but only a few studies have examined cartilage growth because of the poor contrast in conventional X-ray imaging.
Objective:
In this study, we attempted to use the linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) as a metric of tissue-engineered cartilage development, which would be useful in high-throughput screening of cartilage products.
Methods:
Assuming that the LAC is related to the amount of extracellular matrix (ECM) in terms of the density and its atomic components, we measured X-ray absorption through tissue-engineered cartilage constructs. Characteristic X-ray beams from a molybdenum microfocus X-ray tube were employed to avoid beam hardening. The correlation of the LAC with mechanical properties was analyzed for verification.
Results:
The LAC was higher for chondrocyte constructs and lower for fibroblast-dominant constructs and was consistent with the quantification of toluidine blue staining, which is a proof of ECM production. The LAC was positively correlated with the bending modulus but negatively correlated with the dynamic elastic modulus and stiffness, possibly because of the remaining scaffold.
Conclusions:
The LAC has the potential to be used as a metric of development of tissue-engineered cartilage. However, the calcified regions should be excluded from analysis to avoid decreasing the correlation between the LAC and the amount of ECM.
