Investigation of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography towards the study of microstructure of articular cartilage

This paper highlights the extended Jones matrix calculus based multi-angle study carried out to understand the depth-dependent structural orientation of the collagen fibers in articular cartilage using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT). A 3D lamellar model for the collagen fiber orientation, with a quadratic profile for the arching of the collagen fibers in transitional zone which points towards an ordered arrangement of fibers in that zone is the basis of the organization architecture of collagen fibers in articular cartilage. Experimental data for both ex-vivo bovine fetlock and human patellar cartilage samples are compared with theoretical predictions, with a good quantitative agreement for bovine and a reasonable qualitative agreement for human articular cartilage samples being obtained