Orthotopic Autologous Chondrocyte Grafting as a Method of Treatment of Growth Plate Damage in Rabbits.

BACKGROUND

With the continuous advances in the therapy of joint cartilage injury, some of those classification systems are also being used for evaluating the quality of regenerating cartilage. Histo lo gi cal assessment of joint cartilage is a very important component in the staging of osteoarthritis and tracing therapeutic outcomes. We performed a histological assessment of regenerating growth plate in a group of New Zealand white rabbits as a component of autologous chondrocyte therapy for growth plate damage.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We studied a group of 14 five-week-old in-bred white rabbits. We used a tre phine needle to harvest growth plate from the medial fourth of tibial width. The mean duration of the procedure was 25 minutes (range: 12-37 minutes). We conducted a total of 25 growth plate harvesting procedures. In 21 cases, we placed a drainage tube at the site of the defect for 22 days. After removing the tube, we introduced a cartilago-fibrinous construct containing cultured autologous chondrocytes into 14 defects, while 4 defects were left intact. Three growth plates represented non-intervention controls.

RESULTS

Our analysis showed satisfactory graft morphology and integration; absence of inflammatory res ponse and fair restitution of growth plate architecture.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Growth plate damage can lead to the development of an angular deformity as a result of im paired longitudinal bone growth; 2. Autologous chondrocyte grafting is a good method of treatment for growth plate damage; 3. A weakness of autologous chondrocyte grafting is the relatively long time of chondrocyte culturing.