Interlocked Stresses in Cartilage

Abstract

SPECIFICALLY aligned tensile stresses have been demonstrated in human costal¹ and nasal septal cartilage². The outer layers of the tissue are maintained in tension so that the intact cartilage has a balanced system of forces the resultant of which is zero³. The nasal septal cartilage exists as a plate dividing the nose into two cavities in front and may become distorted in shape in vivo or in vitro if this balance of forces is altered. Breaching the surface layers on one side will partially release the interlocked stresses of the opposite intact side and because the cartilage is not rigid it will curl towards the intact side. The degree of deformation by curling has been shown to depend on the thickness of the cartilage and the cellular alignment which actually determines the alignment of the tensile stresses within the tissue⁴.