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Chondrocyte enlargement is a marker of osteoarthritis severity
- Source :
- Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. 27:1229-1234
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Summary Objective We aimed to assess whether an increase in chondrocyte size might be a feature of the articular cartilage (AC) hypertrophic-like phenotype both in experimental and in human osteoarthritis (OA). The anatomical location of these enlarged cells in the cartilage layers was also evaluated. Methods Experimental OA was carried out in female rabbits alone or in combination with osteoporosis (OPOA). The rabbits were subjected to destabilization knee surgery to develop OA. Osteoporosis was induced with ovariectomy and methylprednisolone administration. Human OA samples obtained from knee replacement surgery were also studied. Cartilage lesions and chondrocyte size were assessed in AC sections. Immunostaining of type-X collagen and metalloproteinase-13 were used as markers of the AC hypertrophic transformation. Both the cell size and the gene expression of type-X collagen were further analyzed in primary murine chondrocyte cultures. Results Compared to healthy AC, chondrocyte size was increased both in experimental and in human OA, in correlation with the severity of cartilage damage. No differences in chondrocyte size were found between deeper or more superficial regions of AC. In cell cultures, accretion of hypertrophic markers and cell enlargement were found to occur synchronized. Conclusions We observed an enhancement in the mean size of chondrocytes at the OA cartilage, which showed correlation with cartilage damage, both in human and in experimental OA. The enlarged chondrocytes were homogeneously distributed throughout the AC. Our results suggest that chondrocyte size could be a reliable measure of disease progression, of potential use in the histopathological assessment of OA cartilage.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.medical_treatment
Osteoporosis
Biomedical Engineering
Knee replacement
Osteoarthritis
Severity of Illness Index
Chondrocyte
03 medical and health sciences
Chondrocytes
0302 clinical medicine
Rheumatology
Matrix Metalloproteinase 13
medicine
Animals
Humans
Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Cells, Cultured
030203 arthritis & rheumatology
Staining and Labeling
business.industry
Cartilage
Cell Enlargement
Hypertrophy
Osteoarthritis, Knee
medicine.disease
Disease Models, Animal
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Methylprednisolone
Disease Progression
Rabbits
business
Immunostaining
Collagen Type X
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10634584
- Volume :
- 27
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....68785b15ca27c2f64a9f461cfec2dddc