High Density Infill in Cracks and Protrusions from the Articular Calcified Cartilage in Osteoarthritis in Standardbred Horse Carpal Bones

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Sheila Laverty⁵  Mathieu Lacourt⁵  Chan Gao⁴  Janet E. Henderson³  Alan Boyde¹  Ali Mobasheri² 

[1] Dental Physical Sciences, Oral Growth and Development, Dental Institute, Barts’ and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), London E1 4NS, UKComparative Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Département de Sciences Cliniques, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, C.P. 5000, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S-7C6, Canada;;Bone Engineering Labs, Research Institute-McGill University Health Centre, Montreal General Hospital C9-133, 1650 Cedar Ave, Montreal, QC H3G-1A4, Canada; E-Mail:;Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G-1A4, Canada; E-Mail:;Comparative Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Département de Sciences Cliniques, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, C.P. 5000, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S-7C6, Canada; E-Mails:

关键词: cartilage;    bone;    osteoarthritis;    X-ray microtomography;    dystrophic calcification;    chondrocyte apoptosis;    zone of calcified cartilage;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms16059600

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We studied changes in articular calcified cartilage (ACC) and subchondral bone (SCB) in the third carpal bones (C3) of Standardbred racehorses with naturally-occurring repetitive loading-induced osteoarthritis (OA). Two osteochondral cores were harvested from dorsal sites from each of 15 post-mortem C3 and classified as control or as showing early or advanced OA changes from visual inspection. We re-examined X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT) image sets for the presence of high-density mineral infill (HDMI) in ACC cracks and possible high-density mineralized protrusions (HDMP) from the ACC mineralizing (tidemark) front (MF) into hyaline articular cartilage (HAC). We hypothesized and we show that 20-µm µCT resolution in 10-mm diameter samples is sufficient to detect HDMI and HDMP: these are lost upon tissue decalcification for routine paraffin wax histology owing to their predominant mineral content. The findings show that µCT is sufficient to discover HDMI and HDMP, which were seen in 2/10 controls, 6/9 early OA and 8/10 advanced OA cases. This is the first report of HDMI and HDMP in the equine carpus and in the Standardbred breed and the first to rely solely on µCT. HDMP are a candidate cause for mechanical tissue destruction in OA.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.