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Forty-three out-patients received treatment (6 months in 13 cases of spondylarthrosis, 12 months in 30 cases of gonarthrosis) with heterologous antibodies to articular tissue, given as 1 rectal suppository once every other day for periods of 4 weeks out of every 5. The treatment produced complete freedom from symptoms and signs of the illness in 5 (12%) patients and overall positive therapeutic results in 36 (84%), equally distributed in the disorders of the vertebral column and of the knee. This was accompanied by a significant improvement, both in terms of percentage improvement and the percentage of patients improved, of all monitored symptoms. The percentage improvement was similar for all components of the illness: pain, mobility and inflammatory-reactive component. No local or systemic side-reactions were recorded throughout the observation period, and there were no adverse effects on haematology, haematochemistry or renal function. A high percentage of patients reported a remarkable improvement in their quality of life, an overall measure of the therapeutic benefit-risk ratio as experienced by the individual patient.

The writers used the electron transmission microscope to study the ultrastructure of the synovial membrane in joints or synovial areas that varied in their exposure to weight bearing or other mechanical stresses. They used fragments of synovial membrane obtained surgically from the knee and from the elbow joints. In the joints or synovial areas little exposed to weight bearing or traction, the three strata of which the synovial membrane is composed were well differentiated from the fibrous capsule. The intima contained abundant cells with a trophic function (chiefly A cells); the subintima was intensely vascularised and had numerous fat cells but few fibres; the subsynovia was predominantly fibrous. On the other hand, in joints or synovial areas notably exposed to weight bearing or traction stresses, the synovial membrane was thinner, with few cellular elements (mostly resembling fibroblasts) and few blood vessels, while the fibrillar component was particularly marked. These differences in the ultrastructure confirm Franceschini's hypothesis that the synovial fluid is produced in those areas of the synovia that are less exposed to mechanical stress.

Using the electron transmission microscope, the writers studied the ultrastructural appearances of the synovial membrane obtained during acute haemarthrosis, with the aim of elucidating the morphological basis of he mechanism of reabsorption of the various components of the blood. It was observed that all the elements of the synovial intima showed substantial modifications of the cytoplasm and of the plasmalemma. The cytoplasm showed: (a) marked abundance of lysosomes and lysophagosomes; (b) the presence of conspicuous cavities crammed with erythrocytic fragments; (c) marked reduction of normal cytoplasmic organelles. The plasmalemma, on the surface bordering the joint cavity, showed numerous philopods and lamellipods. These modifications, which affected all the cellular elements of the intimal stratum, demonstrate that they are macrophagically differentiated.