Topographical variations in the polarization sensitivity of articular cartilage as determined by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography and polarized light microscopy

Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) affects millions of people and is one of the most frequent causes of physical disability of adults, making it a subject of extreme interest.1 The extracellular matrix of articular cartilage consists mainly of collagen fibrils and proteoglycans bathed in water. The architectural organization of the collagen fibrils has distinct differences in orientation at different tissue depths, which are commonly referred to as histological zones (superficial or tangential, middle or transitional, and deep or radial). The differences in the fibril orientation across the thickness of the tissue are the cause of the birefrigent phenomenon in cartilage, and have been verified quantitatively by polarized light microscopy experiments.2, 3, 4

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