Swelling of normal bovine articular cartilage equilibrated in NaCl solutions was dimensionally measured in thin strips of tissue. The ion-induced strains show that free swelling of articular cartilage is anisotropic and inhomogeneous. For the molar concentrations used, contraction increased linearly with concentration, defining a “coefficient of chemical contraction” (αc). Isometrically constrained specimens registered a rise in tensile force followed by stress relaxation. An extension of the biphasic theory incorporating this ion-induced strain is proposed. This theory can describe the equilibrium anisotropic swelling behavior of cartilage and explain the transient force history observed in the isometric experiment.

This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.