This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hunziker, E. B.
Right arrow Articles by Quinn, T. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hunziker, E. B.
Right arrow Articles by Quinn, T. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American) 85:85-92 (2003)
© 2003 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.

Scientific Article

Surgical Removal of Articular Cartilage Leads to Loss of Chondrocytes from Cartilage Bordering the Wound Edge

Ernst B. Hunziker, MD and Thomas M. Quinn, PhD

Corresponding author: Ernst B. Hunziker, MD
ITI Research Institute, University of Bern, Murtenstrasse 35, P.O. Box 54, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. E-mail addressvt: ernst.hunziker{at}iti.unibe.ch

In support of their research or preparation of this manuscript, one or more of the authors received grants or outside funding from Orthogene LLC, Greenbrae, California, and T.M. Quinn received a fellowship from the Arthritis Society of Canada. None of the authors received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. A commercial entity (University of Bern) paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, benefits to a research fund, foundation, educational institution, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors are affiliated or associated.

Background: A number of arthroscopic procedures that are used in the treatment of focal cartilage lesions or osteoarthritic joints, such as shaving, débridement, and laser abrasion, involve the removal of both diseased and healthy articular cartilage. The excision of such tissue has the effect of generating lesions within the articular cartilage. The fate of the chondrocytes that border such lesions has not been evaluated. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether the surgical creation of lesions in articular cartilage induces irreversible loss of chondrocytes over time from tissue bordering the wound edge and to determine whether the synthetic activity of cells in this region is compromised.

Methods: Partial-thickness defects of defined dimensions were created in the femoral condyle and/or trochlear groove of rabbits and miniature pigs. Cell volumes, cell volume densities, and numerical cell densities within tissue close to (within 100 µm) and remote from (control site) the wound edge were determined by quantitative histomorphometry at various time intervals up to six months after surgery. Rates of proteoglycan synthesis by cells in both regions were determined by quantitative autoradiography following 35 S-sulphate labeling in vivo .

Results: The surgical creation of partial-thickness lesions in articular cartilage induced a significant and long-term loss of cells from tissue near the wound edge. However, the surviving cell population maintained a normal rate of matrix proteoglycan deposition.

Conclusions: This study illustrates that maintenance and remodeling of cartilage matrix close to wound edges in articular cartilage lesions is compromised, since fewer cells, with an unchanged metabolic activity rate, are left to sustain matrix domains.

Clinical Relevance: The long-term benefits of arthroscopic treatments such as shaving, débridement, and laser abrasion may be deleteriously affected by their adverse biological effects on the cells and matrix of articular cartilage.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 JBJSHome page
N. Yoganandan, F. A. Pintar, B. D. Stemper, C. E. Wolfla, B. S. Shender, and G. Paskoff
Level-Dependent Coronal and Axial Moment-Rotation Corridors of Degeneration-Free Cervical Spines in Lateral Flexion
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., May 1, 2007; 89(5): 1066 - 1074.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JBJSHome page
B. H. Borazjani, A. C. Chen, W. C. Bae, S. Patil, R. L. Sah, G. S. Firestein, and W. D. Bugbee
Effect of Impact on Chondrocyte Viability During Insertion of Human Osteochondral Grafts
J. Bone Joint Surg. Am., September 1, 2006; 88(9): 1934 - 1943.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]