Affiliations: [a] Department of Orthopaedic Sports Surgery, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany | [b] Study Programme Biomimetics, Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, Bocholt, Germany | [c] Westphalian Institute for Biomimetics, Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, Bocholt, Germany
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Matthias Lahner, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstr. 56, 44791 Bochum, Germany. Tel.: +49 234 5092707; Fax: +49 234 5092508; E-mail: m.lahner@klinikum-bochum.de.
Abstract: Background:In cartilage repair, scaffold-assisted single-step techniques are used to improve the cartilage regeneration. Nevertheless, the fixation of cartilage implants represents a challenge in orthopaedics, particularly in the moist conditions that pertain during arthroscopic surgery. Within the animal kingdom a broad range of species has developed working solutions to intermittent adhesion under challenging conditions. Using a top-down approach we identified promising mechanisms for biomimetic transfer. Objective:The tree-frog adhesive system served as a test case to analyze the adhesion capacity of a polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffold with and without a structural modification in a bovine articular cartilage defect model. Methods:To this end, PGA implants were modified with a simplified foot-pad structure and evaluated on femoral articular bovine cartilage lesions. Non-structured PGA scaffolds were used as control. Both implants were pressed on 20 mm × 20 mm full-thickness femoral cartilage defects using a dynamometer. Results:The structured scaffolds showed a higher adhesion capacity on the cartilage defect than the non-structured original scaffolds. Conclusions:The results suggest that the adhesion ability can be increased by means of biomimetic structured surfaces without the need of additional chemical treatment and thus significantly facilitate primary fixation procedures.
