# Real-time measurement of joint-loading for osteoarthritis study and treatment

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS · 2022 · $211,776

## Abstract

Abstract
Millions of American suffer from Osteoarthritis (OA) while available medicines only alleviate symptoms but do
not actually treat this disease. Surgically, the golden method so far has been to use substitutive tissue grafts
which can be obtained from the same patients (i.e. auto-grafts) or other donors (e.g. allo-grafts) or constructed
by tissue-engineering approach. However, these replacement grafts often suffer from mechanical failures and
long-term instability. Many of them fail to regenerate hyaline cartilages which are required for healthy load-
bearing cartilage tissues. Joint-loading, directly applied on cartilage tissues during joint-motions, plays a
significant role for such mechanical failures and regenerative capability of replacement cartilage grafts. While
joint-force, beyond a certain range, damages the cartilages, the force with appropriate magnitudes can promote
healing of injured tissues. Despite numerous evidences on the important role of joint-loading, studies and
applications of mechanical stimulation for the treatment of OA are very limited in in vivo conditions and clinical
settings. This limitation mainly stems from the lack of information about actual joint-force which is directly applied
on replacement cartilage grafts during motion of joints in vivo. To obtain such information, it is thus needed to
develop a special force sensor that can possess several desired functions and properties. First, the tools need
to be ultrathin and can be seamlessly integrated with replacement cartilage grafts to avoid being detached and
disturbing the joint’s complex mechanics during implantation. Second, the sensors should be bioresorbable to
not interfere in tissue regeneration and avoid any invasive removal surgery, which would damage the directly-
interfaced cartilages. And finally, the sensor can provide a continuous real-time monitoring of the force during
joint motions in vivo. Here, we will study, for the first time, a device-cartilage interface between the
piezoelectric PLLA pressure sensor and a replacement cartilage auto-graft, which together can monitor
in vivo joint-loading and heal cartilage-defects. The sensor system will provide accurate and reliable
information about joint-loading, which can be used to track OA-evolution/cause in relation with cartilage-force
and ultimately, combined with physical therapy or other mechanical stimulations to induce an optimal joint-force
for the best cartilage regeneration in vivo. The sensor will be then self-degraded, facilitating tissue ingrowth and
avoiding any invasive removal surgery. Accordingly, our proposal has two specific aims. Aim 1 is to assess
functional lifetime, degradation profile and performance of the proposed biodegradable PLLA sensors for
measuring simulated joint-loading in vitro. Aim 2 is to assess the healing of cartilage defects, receiving autografts
integrated with the PLLA sensors and demonstrate reliability of the sensors to wirelessly measure real-time jo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10359757
- **Project number:** 5R21AR078744-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
- **Principal Investigator:** Thanh Nguyen
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $211,776
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-03-01 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10359757

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10359757, Real-time measurement of joint-loading for osteoarthritis study and treatment (5R21AR078744-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10359757. Licensed CC0.

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