Summary
The mechanism of repair of injuries to articular cartilage of the distal femur in young, young adult and adult rats was investigated using 3H-Thymidine autoradiography and microscopic observation. It was found that in young rats the defect was repaired by the reactive proliferation of the cartilage cells, that in the young adult rats the wound was repaired by hyaline cartilage which was differentiated from undifferentiated mesenchymal cells (U.M.C.), and that in the adult rats repair with cartilage did not occur. The superficial part of the defect was filled by connective tissue derived from the U.M.C. while the deeper layers were repaired by tissue resembling bone and also derived from the U.M.C. Repair of the injured articular cartilage thus varied with the degree of maturity of each animal, suggesting that age largely influences the mechanism of response to injury.
Résumé
Le mécanisme de la réparation du cartilage articulaire après traumatisme a été étudié chez le rat au niveau de l'extrémité distale du fémur. Les expériences ont porté sur des animaux jeunes, adultes jeunes et adultes et ont été contrôlées par autoradiographies à la thymidine tritiée et observations microscopiques. On a trouvé que chez le jeune rat la perte de substance est réparée par prolifération des cellules cartilagineuses, que chez le jeune adulte la réparation est faite de cartilage hyalin qui se différencie à partir des cellules mésenchymateuses et que chez l'adulte il n'y a pas de réparation par du cartilage. La partie superficielle de la perte de substance est comblée de tissu conjonctif dérivé des cellules mésenchymateuses, tandis que sa partie profonde est réparée par du tissu ressemblant à de l'os, également dérivé des cellules du mésenchyme. La réparation du cartilage articulaire varie donc avec le degré de maturité de chaque animal, ce qui permet de penser que l'âge influence notablement le mécanisme de réponse au traumatisme.
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Sakakida, K., Inoue, S. & Maki, Y. An experimental study of the repair of injured articular cartilage using 3H-thymidine autoradiography. International Orthopaedics 2, 3–7 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265995
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265995