Franz T, Hasler E M, Hagg R, Weiler C, Jakob R P, Mainil-Varlet P
Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2001 Aug;9(6):582-92. doi: 10.1053/joca.2001.0418.
Reduction of compressive stiffness of articular cartilage has been reported as one of the first signs of cartilage degeneration. For the measurement of in situ compressive stiffness, a hand-held indentation probe has recently been developed and baseline data for macroscopically normal knee joint cartilage were provided. However, the histological stage of degeneration of the measured cartilage was not known. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between the in situ measured compressive stiffness, the histological stage of degeneration, and the biochemical composition of articular cartilage.
Instantaneous compressive stiffness was measured for the articular cartilage of 24 human cadaver knees. Additionally, biochemical composition (total proteoglycan and collagen content) and histological appearance (according to the Mankin score) were assessed for each measurement location.
Despite visually normal surfaces, various histological signs of degeneration were present. A high correlation between Mankin score and cartilage stiffness was observed for the lateral patellar groove (R(2)=0.81), the medial (R(2)=0.83) and the lateral femoral condyle (R(2)=0.71), whereas a moderate correlation was found for the medial patellar groove (R(2)=0.44). No correlation was observed between biochemical composition and cartilage compressive stiffness.
Our results are in agreement with others and show that the instantaneous compressive stiffness is primarily dependent on the integrity of the extracellular matrix, and not on the content of the major cartilage constituents. The high correlation between stiffness and Mankin score in mild osteoarthrosis suggests that the stage of cartilage degeneration can be assessed quantitatively with the hand-held indentation probe. Moderate and severe case of osteoarthrosis remains to be investigated.
据报道，关节软骨压缩刚度降低是软骨退变的首要迹象之一。最近已开发出一种手持式压痕探针用于测量原位压缩刚度，并提供了宏观正常膝关节软骨的基线数据。然而，所测软骨退变的组织学阶段尚不清楚。本研究的目的是调查原位测量的压缩刚度、退变的组织学阶段与关节软骨生化组成之间是否存在关联。
对24例人类尸体膝关节的关节软骨测量瞬时压缩刚度。此外，对每个测量部位评估其生化组成（总蛋白聚糖和胶原蛋白含量）和组织学外观（根据曼金评分）。
尽管表面在视觉上正常，但仍存在各种退变的组织学迹象。观察到髌外侧沟（R(2)=0.81）、内侧（R(2)=0.83）和股骨外侧髁（R(2)=0.71）的曼金评分与软骨刚度之间存在高度相关性，而髌内侧沟的相关性为中等（R(2)=0.44）。未观察到生化组成与软骨压缩刚度之间存在相关性。
我们的结果与其他研究结果一致，表明瞬时压缩刚度主要取决于细胞外基质的完整性，而非主要软骨成分的含量。轻度骨关节炎中刚度与曼金评分之间的高度相关性表明，可使用手持式压痕探针定量评估软骨退变阶段。中度和重度骨关节炎病例仍有待研究。
