Biomechanical simulation for cartilage regeneration of knee joint osteoarthritis with composite scaffold using ply angle optimization

This study investigates the optimization of the ply angle for cartilage regeneration using a composite scaffold for treating knee joint osteoarthritis. We propose a new paradigm for composite scaffold tissue engineering that focuses on the reconstitution of the anatomic fiber architecture and uses constitutive modeling to evaluate the function of the construct. The mechano-regulation algorithm for tissue differentiation was used to determine the influence of the composite scaffold with an optimized ply angle on chondrogenesis in a computational model of knee-joint severe osteoarthritis. The simulation results revealed that the optimized ply-angle composite scaffold, which had similar mechanical properties to the native cartilage, provided the most appropriate biomechanical environment for cartilage regeneration.