Analysis of Bending Behavior of Native Auricular and Costal Cartilage and Tissue Engineered Constructs

The current literature presents many techniques for analysis of the mechanical properties of articular cartilage [1]. By comparison few techniques are available for analysis of auricular cartilage which experiences a different mechanical environment than articular cartilage. Specifically, large deflection bending is a deformation mode that is most relevant to auricular cartilage, but has not been studied thoroughly in soft tissues. The goals of this study were to: 1) apply an elasticity model to three point bending data from normal and engineered auricular and costal cartilage; and 2) use this model to determine the tensile elastic moduli.