Effect of water content on enthalpic relaxations in porcine septal cartilage

• Published in: Journal of thermal analysis and calorimetry Vol. 95; no. 3; pp. 937 - 943
• Main Authors: Chae, Y., Protsenko, D., Lavernia, E. J., Wong, B. J. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2009; Springer
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Head and neck surgery. Maxillofacial surgery. Dental surgery. Orthodontics; Inorganic Chemistry; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Medical sciences; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Regular Papers; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the upper aerodigestive tract; enthalpic relaxation; nasal septum; cartilage; cartilage reshaping; thermal transition; TMDSC; threshold temperature; Differential scanning calorimetry; Thermal transition; Enthalpy; Pig; Cartilage; Relaxation; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Water content; Nasal septum; Artiodactyla; Thermal analysis; Thermodynamic properties; Ungulata
• ISSN: 1388-6150; 1572-8943; 1588-2926
• DOI: 10.1007/s10973-007-8782-4

Cartilage thermoforming is an emerging surgical technology which uses heat to accelerate stress relaxation in mechanically deformed tissue specimens. Heat induced shape change in cartilage is associated with complex thermo-mechanical behavior of which the mechanisms are still a subject of debate. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to characterize the threshold temperatures and enthalpies in cartilage as a function of water content. The DSC identified two enthalpic events in porcine nasal septal cartilage, which depend on the water content. The change in the water content of cartilage impacts the interactions between matrix macromolecules and water molecules, which may be associated with a bound-free water transformation (reversible process) and a denaturation of cartilage (irreversible process).