Swelling and fibronectin accumulation in articular cartilage explants after cyclical impact

The objective of this study was to determine if repeated impact could damage living cartilage and lead to osteoarthritis‐like changes in its biology. Canine cartilage explants were subjected to impacts of as much as 50 MPa once every 5 seconds for 30 minutes. On each impact cycle, the loading rate was 100 MPa/sec to the assigned peak stress, which was held for 1 second. After impact testing, the cartilage was kept in defined culture for as long as 10 days. Radiosulfate incorporation in the region that received direct impact varied with load 0–4 hours after impact, but it did not vary with load at 20–24 hours after impact. Even so, most explants were visibly damaged by 20 or 50 MPa, and there was subtle evidence of damage from impacts of 5 or 10 MPa. For example, ion‐induced swelling in 0.01 M NaCl was increased, suggesting that the physical integrity of the matrix was reduced relative to controls. Self‐diffusion of water, measured by proton magnetic resonance imaging, was also increased in the deeper zones of the explant, consistent with changes in structure at the molecular level. Ten days after impact, the water content and the fibronectin content of the loaded region of the explant were both increased. In combination, these osteoarthritis‐like changes suggested that the physical strength of normal cartilage limits its ability to withstand cyclical impact.