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Subchondral Bone Reaction Associated with Chondral Defect and Attempted Cartilage Repair in Goats

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Abstract

Repair of cartilage damage with autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) has become popular in clinical use during the past few years. Although clinical results have mostly been successful, several unanswered questions remain regarding the biological mechanism of the repair process. The aim of this study was to develop a goat model for ACT. The repair was not successful due to the graft delamination, but we characterize the subchondral changes seen after the procedure. A chondral lesion was created in 14 goat knees, operated on 1 month later with ACT, and covered with periosteum or a bioabsorbable poly-L/D-lactide scaffold. After 3 months, only two of the five lesions repaired with ACT showed partly hyaline-like repair tissue, and all lesions (n = 4) with the scaffold failed. Even though the lesions did not extend through the calcified cartilage, the bone volume and collagen organization of bone structure were decreased when assessed by quantitative polarized light microscopy. There was a significant loss of bone matrix and distortion of the trabecular structure of subchondral bone, which extended several millimeters into the bone. The subchondral bone demonstrated strong hyaluronan staining in the bone marrow and cartilaginous areas with signs of endochondral ossification, suggesting structural remodeling of the bone. The goat model used here proved not to be an optimal model for ACT. The changes in subchondral bone may alter the biomechanical properties of the subchondral plate and thus the long-term survival of the repair tissue after ACT.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Instrumentarium Science Foundation, National Technology Agency (grant 40819/00), Kuopio University Hospital (EVO-grant no 5135), Jyväskylä Central Hospital (TEVO-grant and Sederholm-grant), and Finnish Cultural Foundation (North-Savo Foundation grant). We are grateful to Dr. Raija Tammi, MD, PhD, (University of Kuopio, Department of Anatomy) for kindly providing the bHABC probe, to Prof. Veli-Matti Kosma, MD, PhD (Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Pathology) for his comments on the subchondral bone histology, and to Assistant Professor Carl S. Winalski, MD (Department of Radiology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA) for valuable discussions on MR imaging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    A. I. Vasara

  2. Department of Anatomy, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland

    M. M. Hyttinen, M. J. Lammi, P. E. Lammi, T. K. Långsjö & H. J. Helminen

  3. Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Transfusion Medicine, Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

    A. Lindahl

  4. Institution of Orthopaedics, Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

    L. Peterson

  5. Institue for Biomaterials, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland

    M. Kellomäki

  6. Department of Medicine, Invärtes Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital and ORTON Research Institute, Invalid Foundation, Helsinki and Department of Anatomy, University of Helsinki, Finland

    Y. T. Konttinen

  7. Department of Surgery, Jyväskylä Central Hospital, Jyväskylä, Finland

    I. Kiviranta

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  1. A. I. Vasara
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  2. M. M. Hyttinen
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Correspondence to A. I. Vasara.

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Vasara, A., Hyttinen, M., Lammi, M. et al. Subchondral Bone Reaction Associated with Chondral Defect and Attempted Cartilage Repair in Goats . Calcif Tissue Int 74, 107–114 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-002-2153-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-002-2153-8

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