Experimental Investigation of Polyvinylpyrrolidone as an Artificial Synovial Fluid Material for Osteoarthritis Treatment

Being a degenerative disease, Osteoarthritis need to be treated periodically to reduce the knee joint pain due to loss of joint lubrication which is termed as synovial fluid. For this purpose, efforts are being made to develop artificial synovial fluid. Till date, the most common fluid used is primarily based on hyaluronic acid. Even though the artificial synovial fluid offers temporary relief by enhancing joint lubrication, the treatment is expensive and has prolonged side effects post treatment. The main objective of this study is to develop an improved artificial synovial fluid that more closely mimics the rheological behaviour of natural human synovial fluid, offering a more effective and longer-lasting treatment for osteoarthritis. The initial study involves rheological testing of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at different concentrations. PVP can be considered as biocompatible water-soluble polymer and has been effectively used as substitute in articular cartilages. Two distinct solvents (water and bovine serum) were used to create PVP40 solutions in five different concentrations (0–20 wt. % of PVP40). An Advanced Modular Rheometer was used to examine the samples theologically. The range of low to high shear rates was used to measure the rheological characteristics. It is observed that as the shear rate increases, shear stress is also increases for all the samples. Higher shear stress is observed for the 20% PVP with bovine serum as solvent. The samples displayed non-Newtonian shear thinning behaviour and the presence of bovine serum significantly modified the rheological properties of the sample. The present study proposed the viability of PVP as synovial mimic fluid and with the presence of bovine serum can improve lubrication properties.