Rheology of Synovial Fluids and Substitute Polymers

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Abstract
Synovial fluids are highly viscous and viscoelastic solutions responsible for lubrication and damping in joints. Based on work with both healthy and arthrotically deteriorated human knee joint synovia, the rheology of these materials is discussed in terms of an entanglement network. The essential constituent of the dissolved complex is a hyaluronic acid of very high molecular mass (107), which is degraded in pathological cases with accompanying rheological deterioration. The network properties are calculated and compared with those of pure hyaluronic acid and with synovia-substituted polymers as guar gum and polyacrylamide. The network parameters reflect clearly the rheological properties and their changes in the case of arthrotic deterioration.