Canine Articular Cartilage Response to Compression and Enzymes

Statement of ProblemWith the conquering of previous major orthopedic afflictions, such as polio, osteomyelitis, and tuberculosis, attention is being focused by orthopedic surgeons on the degenerative disease of joints. As stated by Hollander, Despite the almost ubiquitous occurrence of osteoarthritis in the adult population, many parameters of its pathogenesis, some quite elementary, have not been established . In order to investigate these unknown elementary parameters of osteoarthritis , an experimental model will be presented in this thesis to study the cartilage response to the biomechanical and biochemical factors on hyaline cartilage. The biomechanical factors such as compression and stress will be evaluated with a new orthopedic device known as the compression plate. With this instrument, in vivo compression forces can be applied to articular cartilage in the magnitude of 200 pounds which is comparable to the forces applied to human joint. Previous experimental methods using compression have used forces far below this amount. To evaluate a biochemical factor on cartilage, the proteolytic enzyme, papain, will be used intra-articularly. This will give information regarding the role of mucopolysaccharide integrity in the etiology of degenerative joint disease. This project is unique because never have both the compressive forces and anzymatic factors in the same model been simultaneously evaluated.1A comprehensive review will be presented of the current knowledgeof normal cartilage morphology and dynamics, since it is essential tothe understanding of the pathophysiology of cartilage response in osteoarthritis.Current concepts of osteoarthritis in regard to etiology,clinical manifestations, pathology, and experimental models will bereviewed.