No abstract

Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Therapeutic level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

IntroductionOsteoarthritis (OA) results in pain and disability; however, preclinical OA models often focus on joint-level changes. Gait analysis is one method used to evaluate both preclinical OA models and OA patients. The objective of this study is to describe spatiotemporal and ground reaction force changes in a rat medial meniscus transection (MMT) model of knee OA and to compare these gait measures with assays of weight bearing and tactile allodynia.MethodsSixteen rats were used in the study. The medial collateral ligament (MCL) was transected in twelve Lewis rats (male, 200 to 250 g); in six rats, the medial meniscus was transected, and the remaining six rats served as sham controls. The remaining four rats served as naïve controls. Gait, weight-bearing as measured by an incapacitance meter, and tactile allodynia were assessed on postoperative days 9 to 24. On day 28, knee joints were collected for histology. Cytokine concentrations in the serum were assessed with a 10-plex cytokine panel.ResultsWeight bearing was not affected by sham or MMT surgery; however, the MMT group had decreased mechanical paw-withdrawal thresholds in the operated limb relative to the contralateral limb (P = 0.017). The gait of the MMT group became increasingly asymmetric from postoperative days 9 to 24 (P = 0.020); moreover, MMT animals tended to spend more time on their contralateral limb than their operated limb while walking (P < 0.1). Ground reaction forces confirmed temporal shifts in symmetry and stance time, as the MMT group had lower vertical and propulsive ground reaction forces in their operated limb relative to the contralateral limb, naïve, and sham controls (P < 0.05). Levels of interleukin 6 in the MMT group tended to be higher than naïve controls (P = 0.072). Histology confirmed increased cartilage damage in the MMT group, consistent with OA initiation. Post hoc analysis revealed that gait symmetry, stance time imbalance, peak propulsive force, and serum interleukin 6 concentrations had significant correlations to the severity of cartilage lesion formation.ConclusionThese data indicate significant gait compensations were present in the MMT group relative to medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury (sham) alone and naïve controls. Moreover, these data suggest that gait compensations are likely driven by meniscal instability and/or cartilage damage, and not by MCL injury alone.

No abstract

These midterm results in a small group of patients indicate that structural fresh allograft transplantation can be a successful surgical option in the treatment of large osteochondral defects of the talar shoulder [corrected].

In addition to anatomic fracture reduction, these data lend credence to reducing acute intra-articular inflammation through the development of antagonists to these pro-inflammatory and degrading mediators. Likewise, intra-articular lavage might reduce this inflammatory burden.

Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.