Evidence of Cartilage Repair by Joint Distraction in a Canine Model of Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Objective. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disorder characterized by cartilage, bone, and synovial tissue changes that lead to pain and functional impairment. Joint distraction is a treatment that provides long-term improvement in pain and function accompanied by cartilage repair, as evaluated indirectly by imaging studies and measurement of biochemical markers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate cartilage tissue repair directly by histologic and biochemical assessments after joint distraction treatment.Methods. In 27 dogs, OA was induced in the right knee joint (groove model; surgical damage to the femoral cartilage). After 10 weeks of OA development, the animals were randomized to 1 of 3 groups. Two groups were fitted with an external fixator, which they wore for a subsequent 10 weeks (one group with and one without joint distraction), and the third group had no external fixation (OA control group). Pain/function was studied by force plate analysis. Cartilage integrity and chondrocyte activity of the surgically untouched tibial plateaus were analyzed 25 weeks after removal of the fixator.Results. Changes in force plate analysis values between the different treatment groups were not conclusive. Features of OA were present in the OA control group, in contrast to the generally less severe damage after joint distraction. Those treated with joint distraction had lower macroscopic and histologic damage scores, higher proteoglycan content, better retention of newly formed proteoglycans, and less collagen damage. In the fixator group without distraction, similarly diminished joint damage was found, although it was less pronounced.Conclusion. Joint distraction as a treatment of experimentally induced OA results in cartilage repair activity, which corroborates the structural observations of cartilage repair indicated by surrogate markers in humans.

Joint distraction attenuates osteoarthritis by reducing secondary inflammation, cartilage degeneration and subchondral bone aberrant change

“…In larger animal model, joint distraction in the canine anterior cruciate ligament transaction (ACLT)-model of OA for 8 weeks resulted in decreased synovial inflammation and normalization of the cartilage matrix turnover as observed directly after treatment 18 . Recently, Wiegant et al 19 reported that they used joint distraction to treat the canine Groove model of OA. In their study the frame was removed at 25 weeks and the subsequent evaluated by histology and biochemistry showed that there was evident of cartilage tissue repair.…”

Comparison between in vitro and in vivo cartilage overloading studies based on a systematic literature review

“…An alternative method to align loading protocols of in vitro and in vivo studies is to restrict motion of subjects in an in vivo study to investigate the effect of altered loading. It has been shown that interventions such as joint distraction, high tibial osteotomy, and bracing lead to decreased cartilage degeneration and improved patient‐reported outcome. However, it is complicated to determine the isolated effect of loading since it is impossible to measure in vivo loads.…”

A report on the use of a single intra-articular administration of autologous platelet therapy in a naturally occurring canine osteoarthritis model - a preliminary study

“…Pain and functional ability are important parameters in the evaluation of OA treatment efficacy [11]. The gold standard for the evaluation of lameness is through gait analysis [12] but this equipment is often confined to research facilities [9].…”