Assessment of articular cartilage in response to an impact injury using µMRI

This project aimed to study the properties of articular cartilage in response to mechanical injury in rabbit knees using μMRI. Femoral cartilage bone plugs were excised 2 and 14 weeks after impact and imaged using μMRI at a resolution of 11.7 μm/pixel. Higher T2 relaxation values in affected specimens illustrated deterioration in the cartilage after impact. Furthermore, the higher T2 values in impacted samples of the 14-week batch compared to the 2-week batch indicate progressive cartilage degradation over time.