Kevlar Cartilage
Kevlar is a synthetic fiber made of polyparaphenylene–terephthalamide, which has high strength. It is used in the military, automotive and aviation industries, as well as in shipbuilding.
Kevlartilage (kevlartilage, from the combination of "Kevlar" and "sartilago" – Lat. "cartilage") has characteristics that are not comparable to any of the existing synthetic materials. It was developed by a group of scientists from the University of Michigan (USA) and Jiangnan University (China).
Artificial cartilage is both very flexible and durable. Source: Joseph Xu, Michigan Engineering.
Diseases of the knee joint account for about 70% of all rheumatic diseases. Most often, with gonarthrosis and knee joint injuries, cartilage tissue suffers, which in severe cases requires surgical treatment – partial or complete knee replacement.
The existing artificial cartilage substitutes that are currently undergoing clinical trials are not able to equally combine two indicators: strength and elasticity.
In addition, the material must contain sufficient water to transport nutrients to chondrocytes. Hydrogel – a material that is a complex chain of water molecules – fully meets this requirement, but it is not strong enough.
Like natural tissue, artificial cartilage withstands the load by releasing water molecules, and at rest it is restored by completely absorbing them back. Source: Joseph Xu, Michigan Engineering.
The authors of the study combined two materials – Kevlar and hydrogel. Strong Kevlar fibers, which are used in the production of body armor, in combination with polyvinyl alcohol form a material that is much stronger than existing analogues and at the same time 80% consists of water. Water under the action of force "sweats out", providing elasticity to the material – the material stretches, but does not tear. At rest, water is reabsorbed due to polyvinyl alcohol, which attracts water molecules, the form is restored. Kevlar nanofibers form a strong frame of artificial cartilage.
Matrix of artificial cartilage under a microscope. Source: Lizhi Xu, Kotov Lab.
Since Kevlar and polyvinyl alcohol are harmless to the surrounding living cells, the authors suggest using Kevlartilage for the manufacture of knee cartilage implants.
It is possible that the space between the Kevlar fibers can be occupied by chondrocytes – living cells of cartilage tissue. It is planned to study the probability of creating such a hybrid cartilage.
The potential of kelartilage is not limited to cartilage tissue. As the authors of the study write, it can be used to replace other types of tacni. Work in this direction will also be carried out in the near future.
Article by Lizhi Xu et al. Water-Rich Biomimetic Composites with Abiotic Self-Organizing Nanofiber Network is published in the journal Wiley Online Library.
Aminate Adzhieva, portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University Of Michigan: Kevlar-based artificial cartoon mimics the magic of the real thing.