Dokuz Eylül University Department of Textile Engineering, Turkey.
Ege University Department of Textile Engineering, Turkey.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2022 Feb;126:105063. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2021.105063. Epub 2021 Dec 27.
A flexible biologic band, ACL is the most injured and ruptured ligament in the knees of humans and animals. This research aims to produce synthetic anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) and compare these ligaments' mechanical and fatigue life properties with the natural ACL and commercial synthetic grafts. Artificial ligaments were designed as a core-sheath type structure. The core consisted of straight, parallel yarns and the sheath was a tubular fabric produced by weaving or braiding techniques from polyester or Vectran® yarns. The mechanical properties of the resulting artificial ligaments (AL) were tested before and after the fatigue test and compared to those of the natural ACL and commercial artificial ACLs in the market. Results showed that all ligaments had sufficient tensile strength, and they retained it after the fatigue test. If constructed sheath and core parts were from the same type of yarns, the breaking load of ligaments was higher. The breaking strain and stiffness of woven structures, particularly with Vectran cores, were better than braided ones. After the fatigue test, the breaking strain and stiffness of AL structures with a braided sheath or polyester core were improved. This finding suggests that to prevent the laxity of knee preconditioning of the ligament is necessary if the fabric structure or yarn inherently has high breaking strain and low stiffness. Overall, this study shows that a variety of suitable candidates for replacing ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments could be developed by carefully combining the fatigue-resistant yarns with leno, narrow, and braided structures.
一种灵活的生物带，ACL 是人类和动物膝关节中最易受伤和断裂的韧带。本研究旨在生产合成前交叉韧带（ACL），并将这些韧带的机械和疲劳寿命性能与天然 ACL 和商业合成移植物进行比较。人工韧带设计为芯鞘型结构。芯由直的、平行的纱线组成，鞘是由聚酯或 Vectran®纱线编织或编织技术制成的管状织物。对人工韧带（AL）的机械性能进行了测试，测试在疲劳试验前后进行，并与天然 ACL 和市场上的商业人工 ACL 进行了比较。结果表明，所有韧带都具有足够的拉伸强度，并且在疲劳试验后仍保持其强度。如果构建鞘和芯部分使用相同类型的纱线，则韧带的断裂负荷更高。编织结构的断裂应变和刚度，特别是使用 Vectran 芯的结构，优于编织结构。疲劳试验后，具有编织鞘或聚酯芯的 AL 结构的断裂应变和刚度得到了提高。这一发现表明，如果织物结构或纱线固有地具有高断裂应变和低刚度，则需要对前交叉韧带进行预张紧，以防止膝盖松弛。总的来说，这项研究表明，通过仔细结合耐疲劳纱线和罗纹、窄幅和编织结构，可以开发出多种适合替代断裂前交叉韧带的候选材料。
