Abstract
BACKGROUND: Regenerative medicine is therapy that is expected to be effective for mandibular cartilage defect regeneration. Nevertheless, the biomechanical aspects of mandibular condyle cartilage defect regeneration are still rarely discussed. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed too analyze the compression, tensile, shear strength, and elastic modulus in the mandibular condyle cartilage defect regeneration in an animal model after the implantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSC) and platelet rich fibrin (PRF) scaffolds. Materials and Methods: The defect were made on 80 New Zealand White Rabbit mandibular condyle cartilages and divided into four groups (three experimental and one control group). The experimental groups consisted of defects treated with implantations of PRF, hUCMSC, and hUCMSC with PRF. Each group consisted of 5 rats, observed for 4-weeks and then euthanized. Compression, tensile, shear strength, and elastic modulus tests were done with Universal Testing Machine. A comparative analysis was performed using SPSS v25 software. RESULTS: The hUCMSC group had a higher strength of compression (13,462 ± 0,889) MPa with a significant difference (p = 0,000) and tensile strength (2723 ± 0,985) MPa with a significant difference (p = 0,003) than the other groups. The average shear strength and elastic modulus showed that the hUCMSC (1162 ± 0,090 and 8700 ± 1502) and combination groups (0,728 ± 0,071 and 7742 ± 0,814) have significantly higher values than the other groups (p = 0,014 and p = 0,000). CONCLUSION: The implantation of hUCMSC results in a high compression and tensile strength of the regenerated defect. The implantation of hUCMSC or hUCMSC seeded on a PRF scaffold is a novel method for mandible cartilage regeneration, and they showed better biomechanics in shear strength and elastic modulus.