If we can detect of changes in the flow of interstitial fluid in articular cartilage, then we may be able to pick up on the onset of osteoarthritis. This work, done by researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, is the Ph.D. study of Janne Mäkelä, M.Sc.
As indicated in the February 16, 2016 news release, this work “focused on structural and functional changes in articular cartilage at different stages of osteoarthritis. By using finite element modelling, the study combined structural data with functional data measured from articular cartilage samples. This enabled a detailed analysis of how individual structural components affect cartilage loading, and how this process changes in the development of osteoarthritis.”
“The study used microscopic and spectroscopic methods to analyse the structure of articular cartilage samples, enabling the creation of a detailed finite element model to replicate the data obtained by mechanical measurements. Finite element modelling was more sensitive method, compared to exclusively elastic mechanical analysis, in identifying functional changes in early osteoarthritis.”
“The study showed the flow of interstitial fluid to be associated with many osteoarthritis-induced structural changes. Damage to the solid parts of the cartilage enhances the fluid flow from the cartilage, weakening its stiffness under static loading. Increase in the fluid flow seems to be the first functional change indicative of osteoarthritis.”
Mäkelä told OTW, “The results of my work show how tremendously vulnerable tissue the articular cartilage is. We used anterior cruciate ligament transected rabbits in the early osteoarthritis model. After four weeks, the alterations were seen, not only in the transected, but also in the non-operated contralateral knees. Histological scoring, done visually from microscopic slides, was unable to determine whether the contralateral samples had degenerated. However, the computational methods showed the behavior of the tissue to have changed dramatically. These kinds of alterations are a pathway towards osteoarthritis.”
“Hopefully in the future surgeons can have an quantitative method to evaluate the condition of the tissue during surgical procedures. Possibly an arthroscopic indentation instrument. But rather than evaluating only the stiffness of cartilage, perhaps the tissue fluid flow could be a better indicator as it was seen to be a result of the osteoarthritis-induced structural changes. On the other hand, could some other modality, for instance diffusion MRI, be a method to reveal such alterations. Thus enabling early intervention to affect the development of the disease in time.”
“The Biophysics of Bone and Cartilage group in the University of Eastern Finland has an excellent reputation in the work concerning development of better quantitative physical techniques for the characterization of cartilage and bone.”
