Mechanical testing for cartilages

Cartilage tissues have unique physical properties that should be characterized, mainly to produce neocartilages in tissue engineering. Mechanical tests play a significant role in functional cartilage tissue engineering to define the mechanical characteristics of tissue-engineered constructs with a view to comparing them with their native tissue. This study aims to briefly describe connections between the contents of cartilages (hyaline cartilage, fibrocartilage, and elastic cartilage) and their mechanical functions, as well as elaborate on the most common relevant mechanical tests, specifically compression and tensile. In addition, materials, methods, and specific modulus for each test are explained in detail, and practical examples are mentioned. As these classifications and measurements show, each type of cartilage construct needs to be examined by specific mechanical tests associated with its physiological conditions.