ABSTRACT
The degenerative diseases of temporomandibular joint cause pain and loss of functionality in this joint. Tissue engineering can be a good solution to restore the healthy tissue and its function. To optimize the cultivation conditions in tissue engineering of condylar cartilage, a mathematical model is presented, which can simulate the nutrient transport and the cell growth in a 3D porous condylar chondrocytes-seeded PGA scaffold. The transport and uptake of solutes and the cell proliferation was integrated in a biphasic approach. We focused on the amount of glucose and cells inside the construct under free swelling and dynamic compression culture conditions. The effects of shear stress induced by fluid flow were investigated. The numerical results indicates that dynamic compression loading has a better influence on the cell proliferation and the transport of nutrients when compared with the free swelling condition.
