Topic:Articular Cartilage
Articular cartilage in horses is a specialized connective tissue found at the ends of bones within joints. It provides a smooth, lubricated surface for articulation and facilitates the transmission of loads with a low frictional coefficient. Articular cartilage is primarily composed of chondrocytes, collagen fibers, and proteoglycans, and it lacks blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatics. This avascular nature contributes to its limited capacity for self-repair following injury. The health and integrity of articular cartilage are essential for maintaining joint function and mobility in horses. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the structure, function, and pathological changes of articular cartilage in equine species, as well as advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for cartilage-related disorders.
T2* mapping in an equine articular groove model: Visualizing changes in collagen orientation. T2* mapping is promising for the evaluation of articular cartilage collagen. In this work, a groove model in a large animal is used as a model for posttraumatic arthritis. We hypothesized that T2* mapping could be employed to differentiate between healthy and (subtly) damaged cartilage. Eight carpal joints were obtained from four adult Shetland ponies that had been included in the groove study. In this model, grooves were surgically created on the proximal articular surface of the intermediate carpal bone (radiocarpal joint) and the radial facet of the third carpal bone (middle carpal joint) b...
Non-invasive Electroarthrography Measures Load-Induced Cartilage Streaming Potentials via Electrodes Placed on Skin Surrounding an Articular Joint. We aimed to demonstrate that electroarthrography (EAG) measures streaming potentials originating in the cartilage extracellular matrix during load bearing through electrodes adhered to skin surrounding an articular joint. Equine metacarpophalangeal joints were subjected to simulated physiological loads while (1) replacing synovial fluid with immersion buffers of different electrolyte concentrations and (2) directly degrading cartilage with trypsin. An inverse relationship between ionic strength and EAG coefficient was detected. Compared to native synovial fluid, EAG coefficients increased ( &l...
Abundant osteoclasts in the subchondral bone of the juvenile Thoroughbred metacarpus suggest an important role in joint maturation. The administration of bisphosphonate medications, which target osteoclastic-bone remodelling, to juvenile and adult racehorses is a matter of debate owing to concerns that these molecules remain bound to the bone-mineralised matrix and may interfere with subsequent bone growth, adaptation to exercise and healing of bone microdamage in equine athletes. Osteoclasts participate in endochondral ossification, subchondral bone remodelling and bone repair. There is a knowledge gap on the role of equine osteoclast biology in the growth and maturation of joint surfaces and this information is important...
Evaluation of the caudal cervical articular process joints by using a needle arthroscope in standing horses. To determine the safety and efficacy of caudal cervical articular process joint arthroscopy by using needle arthroscopy in standing sedated horses. Methods: Prospective experimental case series. Methods: Six adult horses. Methods: Three horses underwent exploration of bilateral C5-6 vertebral articular process joints and three bilateral C6-7 articular process joints by using a 1.2 × 65-mm needle arthroscope under standing sedation. The 16-gauge arthroscopic trocar and canula assembly was inserted in the desired articular process joint under ultrasonographic guidance without distention of ...
Ex vivo study of minimally invasive procedures for cartilage removal from the metacarpophalangeal or metatarsophalangeal joint and for fetlock tension band application. To describe reliable minimally invasive procedures for (1) removing cartilage by joint distraction and articular drilling for equine metacarpophalangeal (MCP)/metatarsophalangeal (MTP) arthrodesis; (2) applying a palmar/plantar tension band without MCP/MTP joint luxation. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Cadaveric equine limbs (n = 12). Methods: All limbs were used to evaluate the drilling technique. First the MCP/MTP joint was distracted with a 5.5-mm cortical screw. Then, through four stab incisions, articular cartilage was removed with a 4.5-mm drill. Six randomly chosen limbs were the...
Adenosinergic signalling in chondrogenesis and cartilage homeostasis: Friend or foe? Chondrocytes and their mesenchymal cell progenitors secrete a variety of bioactive molecules, including adenine nucleotides and nucleosides, but these molecules are not usually highlighted in review papers about the secretome of these cells. Ageing and inflammatory insults compromise chondrocytes ability to keep ATP/adenosine synthesis, release and turnover. Cartilage homeostasis depends on extracellular adenosine levels, which acting via four P1 purinoceptor subtypes modulates the release of pro-inflammatory mediators, including NO, PGE and several cytokines. Native articular cartilage is cha...
Effects of in vivo fatigue-induced subchondral bone microdamage on the mechanical response of cartilage-bone under a single impact compression. Subchondral bone (SCB) microdamage is prevalent in the joints of human athletes and animals subjected to high rate and magnitude cyclic loading of the articular surface. Quantifying the effect of such focal in vivo fatigue-induced microdamage on the mechanical response of the tissue is critical for the understanding of joint surface injury and the development of osteoarthritis. Thus, we aimed to quantify the mechanical properties of cartilage-bone from equine third metacarpal (MC3) condyles, which is a common area of accumulated microdamage due to repetitive impact loading. We chose a non-dest...
Hyaluronic acid has chondroprotective and joint-preserving effects on LPS-induced synovitis in horses. The intra-articular use of hyaluronic acid (HA) for the treatment of synovitis and osteoarthritis is still controversial. As a consequence, corticosteroids remain the most frequently employed therapeutic agents, despite their potential systemic and local deleterious effects. This study examined the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and chondroprotective activities of low and high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (LMW-HA and HMW-HA) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced synovitis in horses compared to triamcinolone acetonide (TA). LPS was injected in the metacarpophalangeal joints, which were treat...
Gene expression markers in horse articular chondrocytes: Chondrogenic differentiaton IN VITRO depends on the proliferative potential and ageing. Implication for tissue engineering of cartilage. Chondrocyte dedifferentiation is a key limitation in therapies based on autologous chondrocyte implantation for cartilage repair. Articular chondrocytes, obtained from (metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal) joints of different aged horses, were cultured in monolayer for several passages (P0 to P8). Cumulative Populations Doublings Levels (PDL) and gene expression of relevant chondrocyte phenotypic markers were analysed during culturing. Overall data confirmed that, during proliferation in vitro, horse chondrocytes undergo marked morphological and phenotypic alterations of their differen...
Osteoarticular radiographic findings of the distal forelimbs in Tbourida Horses. Tbourida is a traditional Moroccan equestrian sport in which 15 horses gallop 200 m in a line while riders fire into the sky with muskets. The stop is the finale and representative demands of this equestrian event. Such particular sudden stop after a fast gallop requires a hyperextension of the metacarpophalangeal joint. Indeed, it is well known that Tbourida show predisposes horses to different injuries of the hard and soft tissues of the distal forelimbs. Yet, there is a paucity of research that examined such lesions. The aim of the present study was to investigate for the first time the typ...
Serotonin-evoked cytosolic Ca2+ release and opioid receptor expression are upregulated in articular cartilage chondrocytes from osteoarthritic joints in horses. Osteoarthritis is a pain-associated progressive disease and pain mediators, such as opioid receptors, expressed in articular cartilage could represent novel therapeutic targets. Acute and chronic stages of OA indicate different metabolic abilities of the chondrocytes depending on inflammatory state. This study aimed to investigate the response of healthy and osteoarthritic chondrocytes and their expression and release of pain mediators in response to acute inflammation. Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to induce an acute inflammatory response in cultured equin...
Differential Gene Expression in Articular Cartilage and Subchondral Bone of Neonatal and Adult Horses. Skeletogenesis is complex and incompletely understood. Derangement of this process likely underlies developmental skeletal pathologies. Examination of tissue-specific gene expression may help elucidate novel skeletal developmental pathways that could contribute to disease risk. Our aim was to identify and functionally annotate differentially expressed genes in equine neonatal and adult articular cartilage (AC) and subchondral bone (SCB). RNA was sequenced from healthy AC and SCB from the fetlock, hock, and stifle joints of 6 foals (≤4 weeks of age) and six adults (8-12 years of age). There w...
Age-Related Alterations Affecting the Chondrogenic Differentiation of Synovial Fluid Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in an Equine Model. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that strongly correlates with age and promotes the breakdown of joint cartilage and subchondral bone. There has been a surge of interest in developing cell-based therapies, focused particularly on the use of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) isolated from adult tissues. It seems that MSCs derived from synovial joint tissues exhibit superior chondrogenic ability, but their unclear distribution and low frequency actually limit their clinical application. To date, the influence of aging on synovial joint derived MSCs' biological characteristics and differen...
The relationship between microstructure, stiffness and compressive fatigue life of equine subchondral bone. Subchondral bone injuries often precede articular cartilage damage in osteoarthritis and are common in thoroughbred racehorses due to the accumulation of fatigue damage from high speed racing and training. Thus, racehorses provide a model to investigate the role of subchondral bone in joint disease. We assessed the association of horse and racing related factors and micro-CT based micromorphology of three separate subchondral bone layers with the initial stiffness and compressive fatigue life of bone plugs. Furthermore, we investigated three different definitions of fatigue failure of subchond...
Dataset on equine cartilage near infrared spectra, composition, and functional properties. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a well-established technique that is widely employed in agriculture, chemometrics, and pharmaceutical engineering. Recently, the technique has shown potential in clinical orthopaedic applications, for example, assisting in the diagnosis of various knee-related diseases (e.g., osteoarthritis) and their pathologies. NIR spectroscopy (NIRS) could be especially useful for determining the integrity and condition of articular cartilage, as the current arthroscopic diagnostics is subjective and unreliable. In this work, we present an extensive dataset of NIRS meas...
Microfluidic nutrient gradient-based three-dimensional chondrocyte culture-on-a-chip as an in vitro equine arthritis model. In this work, we describe a microfluidic three-dimensional (3D) chondrocyte culture mimicking in vivo articular chondrocyte morphology, cell distribution, metabolism, and gene expression. This has been accomplished by establishing a physiologic nutrient diffusion gradient across the simulated matrix, while geometric design constraints of the microchambers drive native-like cellular behavior. Primary equine chondrocytes remained viable for the extended culture time of 3 weeks and maintained the low metabolic activity and high Sox9, aggrecan, and Col2 expression typical of articular chondrocytes...
Finite Element Modelling Simulated Meniscus Translocation and Deformation during Locomotion of the Equine Stifle. We developed a finite element model (FEM) of the equine stifle joint to identify pressure peaks and simulate translocation and deformation of the menisci. A series of sectional magnetic resonance images (1.5 T) of the stifle joint of a 23 year old Shetland pony gelding served as basis for image segmentation. Based on the 3D polygon models of femur, tibia, articular cartilages, menisci, collateral ligaments and the meniscotibial ligaments, an FEM model was generated. Tissue material properties were assigned based on data from human (Open knee(s) project) and bovine femoro-tibial joint available...
Outcome of arthroscopic debridement of cartilage injury in the equine distal interphalangeal joint. The purpose of this study was to report long-term outcome following arthroscopic debridement of articular cartilage lesions of the distal interphalangeal joint, diagnosed with high-field magnetic resonance imaging. Diagnosis was based on the results of diagnostic anesthesia, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and arthroscopy. Ten horses underwent arthroscopic evaluation for cartilage injury and received various intra-articular therapies after surgery. Three of ten horses had lesions that were surgically inaccessible. Four horses became sound and returned to their preoperative level of athletici...
Influence of Exercise, Age, Body weight, and Growth on the Development of Tarsal Osteoarthritis in Young Mangalarga Marchador Horses. In this study, the effect of early exercise, age, body weight (BW), and growth on the articular cartilage and subchondral bones of the tarsocrural joints was evaluated in 40 young Mangalarga Marchador horses allowed free choice exercise in pasture. Twenty of the horses had additional controlled exercise 3 days per week from a mean age of 30 ± 20 days until 36 months. The training program consisted of an increasing number of 15-minute gallop sprints in an oval paddock with a concrete floor covered by a thick layer of sand. BW, withers height (WH), and neck circumference were measured and bo...
T2* and quantitative susceptibility mapping in an equine model of post-traumatic osteoarthritis: assessment of mechanical and structural properties of articular cartilage. To investigate the potential of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and T2* relaxation time mapping to determine mechanical and structural properties of articular cartilage via univariate and multivariate analysis. Samples were obtained from a cartilage repair study, in which surgically induced full-thickness chondral defects in the stifle joints of seven Shetland ponies caused post-traumatic osteoarthritis (14 samples). Control samples were collected from non-operated joints of three animals (6 samples). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at 9.4 T, using a 3-D multi-echo gr...
Hyaluronic Acid: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Trajectory. Hyaluronic acid (also known as hyaluronan or hyaluronate) is naturally found in many tissues and fluids, but more abundantly in articular cartilage and synovial fluid (SF). Hyaluronic acid (HA) content varies widely in different joints and species. HA is a non-sulfated, naturally occurring non-protein glycosaminoglycan (GAG), with distinct physico-chemical properties, produced by synoviocytes, fibroblasts, and chondrocytes. HA has an important role in the biomechanics of normal SF, where it is partially responsible for lubrication and viscoelasticity of the SF. The concentration of HA and its ...
Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomography Scoring System for Distinguishing Early Osteoarthritis Disease States: A Feasibility Study. Early detection of osteoarthritis (OA) remains a diagnostic challenge owing to insensitive diagnostic techniques currently available. Herein a new semiquantitative scoring system, based upon contrast-enhanced computed tomographic (CECT) imaging, is described for further refinement of early OA disease staging. Trochlear ridge cartilage defects were surgically created in the femoropatellar joint of an adult horse (ACUC approved protocols). Seven weeks post-surgery, CECT imaging was performed on a clinical scanner after intra-articular injection of a cationic iodinated contrast agent, CA4+, into ...
Comparison Between the Hyperelastic Behavior of Fresh and Frozen Equine Articular Cartilage in Various Joints. Fresh and frozen cartilage samples of the fetlock, carpus, and stifle were collected from 12 deceased horses. Half were measured immediately following extraction, and half were frozen for seven days and then measured. Seven indentations (various normalized displacements) were implemented with an indention rate of 0.1 mm/s. Solid phase aggregate modulus (Es), hyperelastic material constant (α), and fluid load fraction (F') of equine articular cartilage were assessed using the Ogden hyperelastic model. The properties were statistically compared in various joints (fetlock, carpus, and stifle),...
The effect of hypoxia on chondrogenesis of equine synovial membrane-derived and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Joint injury is extremely common in equine athletes and post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), a progressive and debilitating disease, is estimated to affect 60% of horses in the USA. The limited potential for intrinsic healing of articular cartilage has prompted intense efforts to identify a cell-based repair strategy to prevent progression of PTOA. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the potential to become an ideal source for cell-based treatment of cartilage lesions; however, full chondrogenic differentiation remains elusive. Due to the relatively low oxygen tension in articular cartilage, h...
Chondrogenic expression and DNA methylation patterns in prolonged passages of chondrocyte cell lines of the horse. We investigated the activity of chondrogenic markers and variation of methylation patterns in equine cartilaginous cells cultivated in monolayer. The transcriptional and epigenetic effect of the long-term culture of chondrocytes has been evaluated using several passages of chondrocyte cell-lines derived from equine articular cartilage. Using 3 genes as endogenous control we tested the expression of 7 genes important for different stages of chondrocyte differentiation and maturation. CpG islands in RUNX3 locus were inspected for the evaluation of differential methylation state of passaged cell-...
Evaluation of equine articular cartilage degeneration after mechanical impact injury using cationic contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Cationic agent contrast-enhanced computed tomography (cationic CECT) characterizes articular cartilage ex vivo, however, its capacity to detect post-traumatic injury is unknown. The study objectives were to correlate cationic CECT attenuation with biochemical, mechanical and histological properties of cartilage and morphologic computed tomography (CT) measures of bone, and to determine the ability of cationic CECT to distinguish subtly damaged from normal cartilage in an in vivo equine model. Mechanical impact injury was initiated in equine femoropatellar joints in vivo to establish subtle ...
The use of equine chondrogenic-induced mesenchymal stem cells as a treatment for osteoarthritis: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled proof-of-concept study. There is a need to improve therapies for osteoarthritis in horses. Objective: To assess the efficacy of equine allogeneic chondrogenic-induced mesenchymal stem cells combined with equine allogeneic plasma as a novel therapy for osteoarthritis in horses. Methods: Randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled experiment. Methods: In 12 healthy horses, osteoarthritis was induced in the metacarpophalangeal joint using an osteochondral fragment-groove model. Five weeks after surgery, horses were randomly assigned to either an intra-articular injection with chondrogenic-induced mesenchymal stem cel...
Temporal changes in synovial fluid composition and elastoviscous lubrication in the equine carpal fracture model. The objective of this study was to examine temporal variations in synovial fluid composition and lubrication following articular fracture. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) was induced by creating an osteochondral fracture in the middle carpal joint of four horses while the contralateral limb served as a sham-operated control. Horses were exercised on a high-speed treadmill, and synovial fluid was collected pre-operatively and at serial timepoints until 75 days post-operatively. Lubricin and hyaluronic acid (HA) concentrations were measured using sandwich ELISAs, and the molecular weight di...
Effect of circadian rhythm, age, training and acute lameness on serum concentrations of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) neo-epitope in horses. Molecular serum markers that can identify early reversible osteoarthritis (OA) in horses are lacking. Objective: We studied serum concentrations of a novel cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) neo-epitope in horses subjected to short-term exercise and with acute lameness. The effects of circadian rhythm and age were also evaluated. Methods: Longitudinal studies in healthy horses and cross-sectional comparison of lame and non-lame horses. Methods: Sera were collected from five horses before and after short-term interval exercise and during full-day box rest. Sera from 32 acutely lame hors...
Viability of Equine Chondrocytes After Exposure to Mepivacaine and Ropivacaine In Vitro. Chondrocyte health is altered when exposed to local anesthetics, raising concerns as to the long-term effects of local anesthetics intra-articularly for diagnosis and analgesia. To investigate the drug with the lowest toxic potential, the effect of ropivacaine and mepivacaine on chondrocytes was evaluated. Articular cartilage from normal metacarpophalangeal joints of five equine cadaver specimens was used to establish chondrocyte cultures. Following seven days, chondrocytes were exposed to standard culture medium (DMEM), ropivacaine 7.5 mg/ml (ROP7.5), ropivacaine 10 mg/ml (ROP10), mepivacaine...