Journal
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH
Volume 20, Issue 3, Pages 545-550Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0736-0266(01)00135-8
Keywords
knee; joint injury; osteoarthrosis; animal model; chronic study
Categories
Funding
- ODCDC CDC HHS [R49/CCR503607] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Animal Models Of acute joint injury are useful for Study of changes in joint tissues that may eventually lead to degradative disease. Our laboratory has de eloped a joint trauma model using a single blunt impact to the patellofemoral joint of rabbits and documented softening of retro-patellar cartilage and thickening of its underlying bone out to 12 months post-trauma. In the present study, we examined changes in these joint tissues out to 36 months post-impact. Forty-nine Flemish giant rabbits were impacted on the right patellofemoral joint and sacrificed at one of six times 0. 4.5, 7.5. 12. 24. and 36 months post-impact. A 30% reduction in the compressive modulus Of traumatized retro-patellar cartilage occurred at 4.5 months versus the contratateral, non-impacted limb and remained at this reduced level Out to 36 months. The fluid permeability of traumatized cartilage also increased over time from baseline and versus the non-impacted limb. Tissue thickness increased slightly at 4.5 months and then decreased over time to a 45% difference from baseline at 36 months post-trauma. While impacted cartilage revealed a significantly greater length of surface fissuring than contralateral. non-impacted cartilage. no time-dependent changes were evident in this study. Moreover, the number and depth of these impact surface lesions did not change as a function of time. Finally. the histological analyses indicated that the thickness of underlying subchondral bone increased over time from baseline and versus that in the non-impacted limb. This long-term study suggested an association between a decrease in the characteristic time constant of traumatized cartilage and thickening of the underlying subchondral bone. Any potential cause and effect relationship, however. must be investigated in future studies. (C) 2002 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available