Electromechanical spectroscopy of cartilage using a surface probe with applied mechanical displacement

This study focuses on an approach for the nondestructive assessment of cartilage degeneration in vivo by quantitation of bulk material properties based on measurements made at the top surface of the tissue. A model of an electromechanical coupled poroelastic medium [Sachs and Grodzinsky (1989) Physicochem. Hydrodyn.11, 585–614] is used to interpret the behavior of a diagnostic probe configuration suitable for such surface measurements of cartilage electromechanical and poroelastic properties via arthroscopy. The response of a planar layer of tissue to a periodic displacement imposed at the articular surface is described. This displacement produces a periodic electric streaming potential and mechanical stress in the bulk and at the surface of the tissue layer with the same frequency and wavelength as the imposed displacement. Using boundary conditions and parameter values relevant to cartilage, the results show that surface measurements of the stress and potential can be used to determine bulk material properties including tissue thickness, moduli, hydraulic permeability, and electrokinetic coupling coefficients. The relation between the temporal frequency and spatial wavelength of the surface excitation and the amplitude, phase, and penetration depth of the stress and potential is investigated numerically and asymptotically. Good agreement has been found between the long wave limit (with parameter values taken from the literature) and compression-induced streaming potential data from previous experiments in uniaxial confined compression. The results show that use of independently imposed temporal frequency and spatial wavelength may enable detection and imaging of focal regions of cartilage degeneration via nondestructive surface spectroscopy.