Tissue-engineered cartilage (TEC) remains a potential alternative for the repair of articular cartilage defects. However, there has been a significant different between the properties of TEC and those of natural cartilage. Studies have shown that mechanical stimulation such as compressive load can help regulate matrix remodelling in TEC, thus affecting its biomechanical properties. However, the influences of shear induced from the tissue fluid phase have not been well studied and may play an important role in tissue regeneration especially when integrated with the compressive load. Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantitatively investigate the effects of combined loading mechanisms on TEC in vitro. A bespoke biosimulator was built to incorporate the coupled motion of compression, friction and shear. The specimens, encapsulating freshly isolated rabbit chondrocytes in a hydrogel, were cultured within the biosimulator under various mechanical stimulations for 4 weeks, and the tissue activity, matrix contents and the mechanical properties were examined. Study groups were categorized according to different mechanical stimulation combinations, including strain (5–20% at 5% intervals) and frequency (0.25 Hz, 0.5 Hz, 1 Hz), and the effects on tissue behaviour were investigated. During the dynamic culture process, a combined load was applied to simulate the combined effects of compression, friction and shear on articular cartilage during human movement. The results indicated that a larger strain and higher frequency were more favourable for the specimen in terms of the cell proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis. Moreover, the combined mechanical stimulation was more beneficial to matrix remodelling than the single loading motion. However, the contribution of the combined mechanical stimulation to the engineered cartilaginous tissue matrix was not sufficient to impede biodegradation of the tissue with culture time.

组织工程软骨（TEC）仍然是修复关节软骨缺损的潜在替代方法。但是，TEC的性质与天然软骨的性质之间存在显着差异。研究表明，机械刺激（例如压缩载荷）可以帮助调节TEC中的基质重塑，从而影响其生物力学性能。但是，尚未对由组织流体相引起的剪切力的影响进行深入研究，并且可能在组织再生中起重要作用，尤其是在与压缩载荷结合时。因此，本研究的目的是定量研究联合加载机制对体外TEC的影响。建立了定制的生物模拟器，以结合压缩，摩擦和剪切的耦合运动。标本 将包封有新鲜分离的兔软骨细胞的水凝胶在生物模拟器中于各种机械刺激下培养4周，并检查组织活性，基质含量和机械性能。根据不同的机械刺激组合对研究组进行分类，包括应变（5％至20％，间隔为5％）和频率（0.25 Hz，0.5 Hz，1 Hz），并研究其对组织行为的影响。在动态培养过程中，施加了组合载荷以模拟人体运动过程中压缩，摩擦和剪切对关节软骨的组合影响。结果表明，在细胞增殖和细胞外基质合成方面，更大的应变和更高的频率更有利于标本。此外，组合的机械刺激比单次加载运动更有利于基质重塑。然而，组合的机械刺激对工程化的软骨组织基质的贡献不足以阻止组织随着培养时间的生物降解。