The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 72, Issue 10 1442-1450, Copyright © 1990 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
The effects of exposure of articular cartilage to air. A histochemical and ultrastructural investigation
KP Speer, JJ Callaghan, AV Seaber and JA Tucker
Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
The effects of exposure of articular cartilage to air and the potential for
reversibility of the histological and ultrastructural changes that were
produced by this exposure were investigated in the knee joint of the
rabbit. After a medial parapatellar arthrotomy and lateral dislocation of
the patella, the surface of the articular cartilage was exposed to air for
one, two, and three hours in forty-five rabbits. Reversibility of the
changes was assessed in fifteen rabbits after exposure of the cartilage to
air for three hours, closure of the joint, and six weeks of recovery.
Histochemical and ultrastructural changes were evaluated, with use of the
contralateral non-exposed knee joint as a control. Depletion of
glycosaminoglycans in the matrix of articular cartilage, as indicated by a
loss of surface staining with toluidine blue, occurred after one hour of
exposure to air. Ultrastructural changes occurred in chondrocytes
throughout the full thickness of articular cartilage after one hour of
exposure. Increases in the time of exposure to air resulted in more
pronounced ultrastructural abnormalities in chondrocytes throughout the
entire thickness of the articular cartilage, but there was no apparent
irreversible cellular injury. Six weeks after arthrotomy, the chondrocytes
had fully recovered from the changes that had been noted immediately after
exposure to air, and they were devoid of degenerative changes. The cells
showed ultrastructural evidence of increased metabolic activity in the
nucleus and cytoplasm. In addition, the chondrocytes had partially restored
the depleted glycosaminoglycans.
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