A mecânica in vivo do anel fibroso do disco intervertebral é baseada em carregamento biaxial ao invés de uniaxial. As propriedades materiais do anel estão intimamente ligadas à osmolaridade no tecido. O artigo apresenta experimentos de relaxação biaxiais do anel fibroso de um tecido canino sob mudanças abruptas na concentração externa de sal. A assinatura da força devido à mudança brusca de salinidade resulta em uma progressiva e monótona mudança na tensão em direção a um novo valor de equilíbrio. Embora o número de amostras não permita nenhuma conclusão quantitativa, as tendências podem abrir uma luz no entendimento das interações complexas na direção das forças, deformações e orientação das fibras por um lado e a osmolaridade do tecido por outro lado. A resposta dual devido à uma mudança na deformação é compreendida como uma resposta imediata antes do fluido escoar para dentro ou para fora do tecido, seguido de uma progressiva readaptação da quantidade de fluido notempo devido ao gradiente do potencial químico entre o tecido e a solução externa.

The in vivo mechanics of the annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc is one of biaxial rather than uniaxial loading. The material properties of the annulus are intimately linked to the osmolarity in the tissue. This paper presents biaxial relaxation experiments of canine annulus fibrosus tissue under stepwise changes of external salt concentration. The force tracings show that stresses are strongly dependent on time, salt concentration and orientation. The force tracing signature of are sponse to a change instrain, is one of a jumpin stress that relaxes partly as the new strain is maintained. The force tracing signature of a stepwise change in salt concentration is a progressive monotonous change in stress towards a new equilibrium value. Although the number of samples does not allow any definitive quantitative conclusions, the trends may shed light on the complex interaction among the directionality of forces, strains and fiber orientation on one hand, and on the other hand, the osmolarity of the tissue. The dual response to a change in strain is understood as an immediate response before fluid flows in or out of the tissue, followed by a progressive readjustment of the fluid content in time because of the gradient in fluid chemical potential between the tissue and the surrounding solution.

Today, the focus of physical scientists is shifting more to biology than ever before. A biological tissue is typically an ionised porous medium saturated with a solution of ions and neutral solutes. Because classical porous media theories do not account for ionisation, the present paper addresses this issue. The characteristic pore size in most biological applications is close to the molecular level and hence below the Debye-Hueckel scale. Not only pressure gradients and concentration gradients, but electrical gradients as well are intimately linked to fluid flow, ion flow and deformation.