Experimental osteoarthritis in guinea-pigs.

Cartilage degeneration was induced in the hind knees of guinea-pigs by surgery. Partial medial meniscectomy induced rapidly progressing lesions whereas the lesions induced by section of the lateral collateral ligament with or without section of the medial collateral ligament developed later and progressed more slowly. In all cases the lesions were first seen focally on the medial tibial plateau where they extended both laterally and deeper into the cartilage. Later, lesions appeared on the medial femoral condyle and meniscus, and eventually also on cartilage in the lateral joint compartment. During the later stages, these models had many features of human osteoarthritis. The appearance and progression of spontaneous lesions in the hyaline cartilage of the hind knees of young guinea-pigs first reported by Bendele and Hulman (1988) has been confirmed. Extra ascorbic acid added to the drinking water had a slight chondroprotective effect on the development of spontaneous lesions but gave no significant protection against the development of lesions induced by lateral collateral ligament section.