Durability of Regenerated Articular Cartilage Produced by Free Autogenous Periosteal Grafts in Major Full-Thickness Defects in Joint Surfaces under the Influence of Continuous Passive Motion

ABSTRACT: An autogenous graft oftibial periosteum was sutured (with its cambium layer facing into the joint) to the base ofa five by ten-millimeter full-thickness defect in the patellar groove of each of forty-five adolescent rabbits. The rabbits were randomly treated postopera-tively by either four weeks of immobilization in a cast, intermittent active motion in a cage, or two weeks of continuous passive motion. One year postoperatively, the regenerated tissue from each rabbit was analyzed macroscopically, histologically, histochemically, and biochemically. Gross degenerative changes were seen in 57 per cent of the rabbits that had been immobilized in a cast, in 73 per cent of the rabbits that had been allowed inter-mittent active motion, and in 22 per cent of the rabbit