Chondrocyte volumetric strain measurements during cyclic loading

A complete understanding of the specific sequence of mechanical and biochemical events, especially in a dynamic environment, is lacking. The goal of this study is to measure chondrocytes deformation in situ when dynamic mechanical loads of physiological relevance are applied. The measurement system used includes a custom-built cartilage loading device with a state-of-the-art multi-photon excitation microscope allowing for real-time measurements during cyclic loading. Initial results suggest cartilage cells do not continuously lose and gain volume within each loading/unloading cycle. Rather, cells seem to deform in the first loading cycle, lose significant volume, and then remain at a similar deformation state for the remaining loading cycles.