Meniscus Matrix Structural and Biomechanical Evaluation: Age-Dependent Properties in a Swine Model
, Silvia Clotilde Modina 2, Valentina Rafaela Herrera Millar 1, Giuseppe Maria Peretti 1,3, Laura Mangiavini 1,3, Marco Ferroni 4, Federica Boschetti 3,4 and Alessia Di Giancamillo 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Generally speaking this is a nice study with novel data presented on the developing menisci. A thorough analysis was complete. It was have been nice to document the vascularization status, as I understand that initially menisci are vascularized at birth and only as adults does it stop at the other 3rd. Perhaps adding some discussion on that would be helpful.
Why didn't you look for collagen II?
Compression on the whole ND menisci doesn't seem scientifically sound. the proximal and distal surfaces aren't parallel.
not sure what is meant by lines 271-272 about E calculated at compression rate of 12%?
There is a missing (REF) on line 306.
Author Response
Please see attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting study, well thought out, well implemented and clearly presented.
Suggested minor changes:
Line 198. It is not clear what this sentence means, especially the part in the parentheses: "ND menisci were considered only for the traction test of the central body because of the low dimension (i.e. anterior and posterior horn were used to block the sample in the machine)."
Line 353 "Thus, weight and locomotion are essential stimuli to boost the meniscus maturation." While this is probably true, it has not been demonstrated in this work, rather it is correlated with the animal activity. Preferably this sentence is modified to indicate that this has not be demonstrated in this work, other than that this development coincides with the start of activity of the animal.
Line 55. "resist to such swelling" should be "resist such swelling"
Line 66 "confined in its outer third" should be "confined to the outer third"
Line 237 "arrohead" should be "arrowhead"
Line 335 "dependent by" should be "dependent on"
Line 339 It is not clear what solicited means in this phrase "Anterior horn is the most solicited part"
Line 353 "contemporary" should be "contemporarily"
Author Response
Please see attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I think the authors should acknowledge the limitation of how they tested the ND menisci in compression as that is a major limitation of the biomechanical analysis since the surfaces were not parallel.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript is now suitable for publication.
