Summary
Specimens obtained from human osteoarthritic knee joints and dog knees with experimentally induced osteoarthritis were used to study the collagenous framework of articular cartilage and subchondral bone in relation to osteoarthritic changes using scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. Degenerative articular cartilage in osteoarthritic joints showed radial orientation of the collagen fibrils, which were usually discernible as fibrillar bundle formations. Cartilage with extensive lesions often showed cleavages or fissures down to the calcified layer. The cartilagenous collagen fibrils in osteoarthritic specimens merged into the subchondral bone plate making the tidemark and the osteochondral junction irregular or obscure. The trabecular orientation of subchondral bone changed with alteration in the articular cartilage and with reactive changes in the subchondral bone, showing the effect of cartilaginous degeneration on its ultrastructure.
Résumé
Des prélèvements obtenus à partir de genoux humains arthrosiques et de genoux de chien porteurs de lésions arthrosiques expérimentales ont permis l'étude de la charpente de collagène du cartilage articulaire et de l'os sous-chondral, par microscopie conventionnelle et par microscopie électronique.
Dans les lésions dégénératives, les fibrilles de collagène du cartilage ont une orientation radiale, alors qu'elles sont habituellement groupées en faisceaux. En cas de lésions étendues, le cartilage présente souvent des clivages ou des fissures menant jusqu'aux couches calcifiées. Les fibrilles de collagène du cartilage arthrosique se fondent dans la plaque osseuse souschondrale, rendant la jonction ostéo-cartilagineuse irrégulière ou mal définie.
L'orientation trabéculaire de l'os sous-chondral se modifie en fonction de l'altération du cartilage articulaire. Ces modifications réactionnelles montrent que, même au niveau ultrastructural, l'architecture de l'os sous-chondral reflète la dégénérescence cartilagineuse.
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Inoue, H. Alterations in the collagen framework of osteoarthritic cartilage and subchondral bone. International Orthopaedics 5, 47–52 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286099
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286099