CN201354373Y - Rolling Loading Apparatus for Cartilage Construction in Vitro - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses a rolling load device for constructing cartilage in vitro according to the simulation principle of tissue engineering construction, which comprises a rolling control mechanism and a compression adjusting mechanism, wherein the rolling control mechanism is used for exerting the mechanical condition of rolling load on culture. On the one hand, the device can control the rolling speed of a roller through a stepper motor and a leading screw, and a roller which is formed by gears and racks rolls purely along the culture at even speed; on the other hand, the working surface can be horizontally lifted through the relative sliding of wedge-shaped sliding blocks, thereby, the even and adjustable amount of compression can be generated on the culture. The device simulates the movement state of knee joint, and the rolling load is similar to the actual stress state of the cartilage, and therefore, the research model of mechanical effects of artificial cartilage can be formed under the rolling load conditions, thereby being conducive to the cartilage exploration in cartilage mechanics biology.

Description

Rolling Loading Apparatus for Cartilage Construction in Vitro

technical field

The invention relates to the fields of cell engineering and tissue engineering, in particular to a rolling loading device for cartilage construction in vitro.

Background technique

In recent years, joint pain, mobility impairment and even complete loss of joint function due to cartilage degeneration or defect have become a difficult problem in medical treatment. Although many new technologies and methods are used in clinical treatment, there is still no suitable method to obtain satisfactory therapeutic effect.

At present, cartilage tissue engineering is becoming an ideal method for permanently repairing tissue defects, and great progress has been made in seed cells, scaffold materials, growth regulators, and tissue construction. There are currently four types of bioreactors commonly used for cell culture, tissue and cell-stent culture cultivation and maintenance, namely: static bioreactors, rotating culture flask bioreactors, rotating wall bioreactors and perfusion bioreactors. Reactor [Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 33 (1998) 15-30, Tissue Engineering. 2003, 9 (3), 549-553], different seed cells, new scaffold materials, growth factors, etc. constitute the culture, respectively in these several Cultivation in a bioreactor is mainly beneficial to the growth of the shape and structure of the culture. Although the use of various bioreactors in the prior art optimizes the growth of cultures, the growth and development of cultures still do not meet clinical requirements. The cultured artificial cartilage still has a large gap with the living cartilage in structure and function, which directly affects the clinical application of artificial cartilage.

In fact, many physical factors can affect the growth and development of cartilage tissue, and mechanical factors play a major role in it. Therefore, many researchers have developed a variety of bioreactors with mechanical environments to try to cultivate functional artificial cartilage. The mechanical conditions of these reactors include: fluid shear stress, liquid pressure, tension, direct compression, deformation shear stress or One or a combination of conditions. Conditions in which fluid shear stress, fluid pressure, and direct compression of cultured cartilage are being extensively studied. However, the joint has the functions of support and movement, and there is synovial fluid, nourishing cartilage and lubricating cartilage surface between the distal femur and the proximal tibia. The distal end of the femur and the proximal end of the tibia are in contact with each other, and there are two relative motions, one is rolling and the other is sliding, which can be vividly described as a direct contact compression of a cylinder, and the other is like a wheel sliding, resulting in surface shear. stress. Rolling produces compression on the cartilage on the one hand and shear deformation on the other hand. Rolling load is the main representative of the mechanical environment of living articular cartilage. For tissue engineering, different tissues have different mechanical conditions, and the engineering construction of articular cartilage requires a specific mechanical environment. According to the simulation principle of tissue engineering construction, rolling loading is more suitable for the construction of articular cartilage.

Utility model content

The technical problem to be solved by the utility model is to provide a rolling loading device for in vitro cartilage construction designed according to the simulation principle of tissue engineering construction.

The technical scheme of the rolling loading device for cartilage in vitro construction of the utility model is as follows:

A rolling loading device for building cartilage in vitro, comprising a compression adjustment mechanism for adjusting the amount of compression on a culture and a rolling control mechanism for applying a rolling load to the culture.

The above-mentioned compression adjustment mechanism includes: a compression adjustment frame, a platform, an adjustment screw, a first wedge-shaped slider, a second wedge-shaped slider, a pressure plate, a culture chamber, a bottom frame and a return spring, wherein the compression adjustment frame has a shape approximately U-shaped The cross section of the cross section, its two side arms pass through two rectangular holes formed on the platform respectively, and extend upwards from the bottom of the platform to the top of the platform, and a pressure plate is fixed on the inner side of the upper end of the two side arms of the compression adjustment frame, on the bottom The first wedge-shaped slider and the second wedge-shaped slider are arranged in the frame, and a pair of adjusting screw rods are fixed on both sides of the bottom frame, and the two adjusting screw rods are respectively connected with one end of the first wedge-shaped slider and the second wedge-shaped slider, so that It produces relative movement, the upper part of the bottom surface of the compression adjustment frame is connected with the bottom surface of the platform through the return spring, the lower surface of the compression adjustment frame is in contact with the upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider and can slide relatively, and the upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider The surface and the lower surface of the compression adjusting frame are all parallel to the platform, and the inclined surface at the lower part of the first wedge-shaped slider coincides with the upper inclined-plane of the second wedge-shaped slider and can slide relatively.

The above-mentioned rolling control mechanism includes a stepper motor, a motor shaft, a lead screw, a connector, a connecting rod, a roller, a gear and a rack, the stepper motor is connected to the lead screw through the motor shaft, and the other end of the lead screw is connected to The connecting rod is connected with the connecting rod, and the end of the connecting rod is provided with a card slot. The section of the card slot is a partially cut ring, and its shape is adapted to the shape of the shared shaft end of the roller and the gear. The shared shaft end of the roller and the gear The part is fixed in the card slot, the rack is fixed on the compression adjustment frame, and the gear and the rack are meshed.

The rolling loading device for cartilage in vitro construction of the utility model controls the rolling speed of the roller through a stepping motor and a lead screw, and the pure rolling of the roller is formed by the gear and the rack, and the roller can roll over the culture at a uniform speed. In addition, the relative sliding of the wedge-shaped sliders can ensure that the working surface is raised and lowered in parallel, so that uniform and adjustable compression can be produced on the culture. This device simulates the motion state of the knee joint. Since the rolling loading is closer to the actual cartilage stress state, it can form a research model of the mechanical influence of artificial cartilage under the rolling loading condition, which is beneficial to the mechanical biology of cartilage. explore.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the rolling loading device of the present utility model;

Fig. 2 shows the side schematic view of the rolling loading device of the present utility model, wherein the cultivation chamber and the stepping motor are not shown;

Fig. 3 is a three-dimensional structural schematic view of the lifting device in the rolling loading device of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the screw driving system in the rolling loading device of the present invention.

In the picture:

1. Stepper motor; 2. Motor shaft; 3. Screw rod;

4. Connecting piece; 5. Connecting rod; 6. Roller;

7. Gear; 8. Rack; 9. Compression adjustment frame;

10. Platform; 11. Adjusting screw; 12. The first wedge-shaped slider;

13. The second wedge-shaped slider; 14. The pressure plate; 15. The culture room;

16. Chassis; 17. Return spring; 18. Culture

19. Card slot

Detailed ways

The utility model relates to a loading device for constructing articular cartilage in vitro. The loading process that can provide rolling pressure to the culture, its overall structure is shown in Figure 1. Referring to Fig. 1, the rolling loading device of the present utility model includes two major mechanisms functionally, namely: a rolling control mechanism and a compression regulating mechanism.

First, the scroll control mechanism will be described below. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the rolling control mechanism includes: a stepping motor 1 , a motor shaft 2 , a lead screw 3 , a connecting piece 4 , a connecting rod 5 , a roller 6 , a gear 7 and a rack 8 . The stepper motor 1 is connected to the lead screw 3 through the motor shaft 2 , and the other end of the lead screw 3 is connected to the connecting rod 5 through the connecting piece 4 . The end of connecting rod 5 is provided with draw-in groove 19 (seeing Fig. 4), and the cross section of draw-in groove 19 is the ring that part cuts off, and its shape is adapted to the shape of the shared shaft end of roller 6 and gear 7, and roller 6 and gear 7 The common shaft end of the gear 7 is fixed in the draw-in groove, the rack 8 is fixed on the compression adjusting frame 9, and the gear 7 is meshed with the rack 8 .

The rolling control process of the above-mentioned rolling control mechanism is as follows: the motor shaft 2 of the stepping motor 1 rotates, causing the lead screw 3 to move back and forth along the motor shaft 2 and the axial direction, and the lead screw 3 drives the connecting rod 5, the roller 6 and the gear 7 to move together, The gear 7 meshes with the rack 8, and the gear 7 and the roller 6 do pure rolling. The culture 18 is arranged below the roller 6 so that the roller 6 rolls back and forth on the surface of the culture 18 . The rolling speed of the roller 6 varies with the rotation speed of the stepping motor 1 .

The above-mentioned rolling control is realized by the stepper motor driving the lead screw to cause the roller to roll back and forth. The movement of the roller driven by the lead screw can make the central axis of the roller obtain a constant speed, and make the roller purely roll on the culture at a constant speed, thereby ensuring that the culture is evenly stressed.

The compression adjustment mechanism of the rolling loading device will be described below.

As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the compression adjustment mechanism includes: a compression adjustment frame 9, a platform 10, an adjustment screw 11, a first wedge-shaped slider 12, a second wedge-shaped slider 13, a pressure plate 14, a culture chamber 15, Underframe 16 and return spring 17. The compression adjustment frame 9 has a nearly U-shaped cross section, and its two side arms respectively pass through two rectangular holes formed on the platform 10 , and extend upward from the bottom of the platform 10 to the top of the platform 10 . A pressing plate 14 is fixedly arranged on the inner sides of the upper ends of the two side arms of the compression adjusting frame 9 . The pressing plate 14 ensures that the slot of the connecting rod 5 blocks the axis of the roller 6 . The vertical position of the roller 6 and the compression adjustment frame 9 remains unchanged, that is, the roller 6 and the compression adjustment frame 9 rise or fall simultaneously with the relative movement of the two wedge-shaped sliders, and the distance between the roller 6 and the platform 10 is The thickness of the culture 18 plus the thickness of the culture chamber floor. The lower surface of the compression adjustment frame 9 is in contact with the upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider 12 and can slide relatively. The upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider 12 and the lower surface of the compression adjustment frame 9 are all parallel to the platform 10 . The lower inclined surface of the first wedge slider 12 overlaps with the upper inclined surface of the second wedge slider 13 and can slide relative to each other. The first wedge-shaped slider 12 and the second wedge-shaped slider 13 are installed inside the underframe 16 , and a pair of adjusting screw rods 11 are fixed on both sides of the underframe 16 . The two adjusting screw rods 11 are respectively connected with one end of the first wedge-shaped slider 12 and the second wedge-shaped slider 13, and can push/pull the two wedge-shaped sliders to generate relative motion. The waist of the compression adjustment frame 9 , that is, the upper part of the bottom surface is connected with the bottom surface of the platform 10 through the return spring 17 .

The working process of the compression adjustment mechanism is as follows: the adjusting screw 11 of the first wedge-shaped slider 12 rotates inwardly, pushing the first wedge-shaped slider 12 to slide on the slope of the second wedge-shaped slider 13, and the first wedge-shaped slider 12 rises as a whole. High, so that the compression adjustment frame 9 rises. In the same way, the compression adjusting frame 9 can also be pushed up by adjusting another adjusting screw 11 . The vertical position of the roller 6 and the compression adjusting frame 9 remains unchanged, the distance between the roller 6 and the base plate increases, and the compression of the culture 18 becomes smaller. When the adjustment screw 11 rotates outward, the first wedge-shaped slider 12 is pulled to slide downward on the slope of the second wedge-shaped slider 13, the first wedge-shaped slider 12 descends as a whole, and the return spring 17 pushes the compression adjustment frame 9 to descend , thereby reducing the distance between the roller 6 and the bottom plate, and the compression of the culture 18 increases. In this way different amounts of compression of the culture 18 are achieved.

In order to be conveniently put into the incubator, the external dimension of the rolling loading device of the present utility model (except the motor control part) can be made small enough, for example, can be 200mm * 120mm * 120mm. The rolling loading device is put into an existing incubator on the market during work, and is carried out under the standard temperature _CO2 concentration condition of the incubator.

Claims (2)

1. A rolling loading device for cartilage in vitro construction, characterized in that: comprising a compression adjustment mechanism for adjusting the compression amount of the culture and a rolling control mechanism for applying a rolling load to the culture, said The compression adjustment mechanism includes: a compression adjustment frame, a platform, an adjustment screw, a first wedge-shaped slider, a second wedge-shaped slider, a pressure plate, a culture chamber, a bottom frame and a return spring, wherein the compression adjustment frame has a shape approximately U-shaped Cross-section, its two side arms pass through two rectangular holes formed on the platform respectively, and extend upwards from the bottom of the platform to the top of the platform, and a pressure plate is fixed on the inner side of the upper end of the two side arms of the compression adjustment frame, on the bottom frame The first wedge-shaped slider and the second wedge-shaped slider are arranged inside, and a pair of adjusting screw rods are fixed on both sides of the chassis, and the two adjusting screw rods are respectively connected with one end of the first wedge-shaped slider and the second wedge-shaped slider, so that Relative movement is generated, the upper part of the bottom surface of the compression adjustment frame is connected with the bottom surface of the platform through the return spring, the lower surface of the compression adjustment frame is in contact with the upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider and can slide relatively, and the upper surface of the first wedge-shaped slider , The lower surface of the compression adjustment frame is parallel to the platform, the slope at the bottom of the first wedge-shaped slider coincides with the slope at the top of the second wedge-shaped slider and can slide relatively; the rolling control mechanism includes a stepping motor, motor shaft, lead screw, connector, connecting rod, roller, gear and rack, the stepper motor is connected to the lead screw through the motor shaft, the other end of the lead screw is connected to the connecting rod through the connector, and the end of the connecting rod There is a card slot at the bottom, the section of the card slot is a partially cut ring, and its shape is adapted to the shape of the common shaft end of the roller and the gear. The common shaft end of the roller and the gear is fixed in the card slot, and the rack is fixed. On the compression adjuster, the gear meshes with the rack. 2. The rolling loading device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: the external dimensions of the rolling loading device are 200mm×120mm×120mm.

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