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Instability dependency of osteoarthritis development in a rabbit model of graded anterior cruciate ligament transection
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Instability dependency of osteoarthritis development in a rabbit model of graded anterior cruciate ligament transection

Yuki Tochigi, Tanawat Vaseenon, Anneliese D Heiner, Douglas C Fredericks, James A Martin, M James Rudert, Stephen L Hillis, Thomas D Brown and Todd O McKinley
Journal of bone and joint surgery. American volume, Vol.93(7), pp.640-647
04/06/2011
DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.J.00150
PMCID: PMC3064002
PMID: 21471417
url
https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.J.00150View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Joint instability has long been empirically recognized as a leading risk factor for osteoarthritis. However, formal mechanistic linkage of instability to osteoarthritis development has not been established. This study aimed to support a clinically accepted, but heretofore scientifically unproven, concept that the severity and rapidity of osteoarthritis development in unstable joints is dependent on the degree of instability. In a survival rabbit knee model of graded joint instability, the relationship between the magnitude of instability and the intensity of cartilage degeneration was studied at the organ level in vivo. Sixty New Zealand White rabbits received either complete or partial (medial half) transection of the anterior cruciate ligament or sham surgery (control) on the left knee. At the time that the animals were killed at eight or sixteen weeks postoperatively (ten animals for each treatment and/or test-period combination), the experimental knees were subjected to sagittal plane stability measurement, followed by whole-joint cartilage histological evaluation with use of the Mankin score. Sagittal plane instability created in the partial transection group was intermediate between those in the complete transection and sham surgery groups. The partial and complete transection groups exhibited cartilage degeneration on the medial femoral and/or medial tibial surfaces. The average histological score (and standard deviation) for the medial compartment in the partial transection group (2.9 ± 0.9) was again intermediate, significantly higher than for the sham surgery group (1.9 ± 0.8) and significantly lower than for the complete transection group (4.5 ± 2.3). The average histological scores for the medial compartment in the partial transection group correlated significantly with the magnitude of instability, with no threshold effect being evident. The significance level of alpha was set at 0.05 for all tests. The severity of cartilage degeneration increased continuously with the degree of instability in this survival rabbit knee model of graded instability.
 Rabbits Anterior Cruciate Ligament - surgery Risk Assessment Wounds and Injuries - complications Male Reference Values Osteoarthritis, Knee - etiology Random Allocation Disease Progression Animals Range of Motion, Articular - physiology Female Joint Instability - etiology Osteoarthritis, Knee - physiopathology Joint Instability - physiopathology Disease Models, Animal

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