@article{LahnerKalwaOlbringetal.2015, author = {Lahner, Matthias and Kalwa, Lukas and Olbring, Roxana and Mohr, Charlotte and G{\"o}pfert, Lena and Seidl, Tobias}, title = {Biomimetic structured surfaces increase primary adhesion capacity of cartilage implants}, series = {Technology and Health Care}, volume = {23}, journal = {Technology and Health Care}, number = {2}, doi = {10.3233/THC-140884}, pages = {205 -- 213}, year = {2015}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: In cartilage repair, scaffold-assisted single-step techniques are used to improve the cartilage regeneration. Nevertheless, the fixation of cartilage implants represents a challenge in orthopaedics, particularly in the moist conditions that pertain during arthroscopic surgery. Within the animal kingdom a broad range of species has developed working solutions to intermittent adhesion under challenging conditions. Using a top-down approach we identified promising mechanisms for biomimetic transfer OBJECTIVE: The tree-frog adhesive system served as a test case to analyze the adhesion capacity of a polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffold with and without a structural modification in a bovine articular cartilage defect model. METHODS: To this end, PGA implants were modified with a simplified foot-pad structure and evaluated on femoral articular bovine cartilage lesions. Non-structured PGA scaffolds were used as control. Both implants were pressed on 20 mm × 20 mm full-thickness femoral cartilage defects using a dynamometer. RESULTS: The structured scaffolds showed a higher adhesion capacity on the cartilage defect than the non-structured original scaffolds. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the adhesion ability can be increased by means of biomimetic structured surfaces without the need of additional chemical treatment and thus significantly facilitate primary fixation procedures.}, language = {en} }