Early detection of osteoarthritis in the rat with an antibody specific to type II collagen modified by reactive oxygen species

Abstract

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease of the whole joint, with articular cartilage breakdown as a major characteristic. Cartilage degradation is mostly driven by chondrocytes which produce inflammatory mediators, proteases and oxidants. Nevertheless, the early pathogenesis events are still unclear. We employed antibody that is specific to oxidative post-translationally modified collagen type II (anti-oxPTM-CII) to detect early cartilage pathogenic changes in two rat models of OA. Methods: The animals underwent surgery for destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) and were sacrificed at 3, 5, 7, 14 and 28 days or anterior cruciate ligament transection with partial meniscectomy (ACLT+pMx) and were sacrificed after 1, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days. Joints were stained with toluidine blue and Saffron du Gatinais for histological scoring, anti-oxPTM-CII and anti- collagen type X antibodies (anti-CX). Results: We observed oxPTM-CII staining as early as 1 or 3 days after ACLT+pMx or DMM surgeries respectively, before overt cartilage lesions were visible. It was located mostly in the deep zone of the medial tibial cartilage, in the pericellular and territorial matrix of hypertrophic chondrocytes and co-localized with CX staining. Both staining were weak or absent for the lateral compartment or the contralateral knees except at later timepoints. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that oxidants production and chondrocytes hypertrophy occur very early in the onset of OA, possibly initiating the pathogenic events of OA. We propose to use anti-oxPTM-CII as an early biomarker for OA ahead or radiographic changes.

Dynamic weight-bearing test during jumping: A sensitive outcome measure of chronic osteoarthritis pain in rats

“…In the present study, a typical joint broadening symptom was observed after DMM surgery that peaked during week 1, persisted until the end of the study, and was sensitive to anti-inflammatory Zilretta treatment. Joint broadening can potentially be a consequence of surgery, synovitis, bone remodeling or another pathology [16,20]. The effect has been shown to be exaggerated when rats are housed in RCCs compared with type IV cages [15].…”