Elasticity evaluation of regenerating cartilage sample based on laser Doppler measurement of ultrasonic particle velocity

It is important for regenerative medicine to evaluate the maturity of regenerating tissue. In the maturity evaluation of regenerating cartilage, it is useful to measure the temporal change of elasticity because the maturity of regenerating tissue is closely related to its elasticity. In this study, an elasticity evaluation method for the extracted regenerating cartilage sample, which is based on the laser Doppler measurement of ultrasonic particle velocity, was experimentally investigated using agar-based phantoms with different elastic moduli and the regenerating cartilage samples extracted from beagles in animal experiments. In addition, the experimentally-obtained elasticity was compared with the result of a static compression test. These results verified the feasibility of the proposed method in the elasticity evaluation of regenerating cartilage samples.