The effect of a cartilage bone marrow extract on experimentally induced osteoarthrosis in the knee joints of rabbits. A scanning electron microscopic study.

The development of osteoarthrosis following a partial meniscectomy on the knee cartilage of rabbits (Chinchilla hybrids) was monitored with a scanning electron microscope. Simultaneously, a study was made of the effect of the cartilage bone marrow extract Rumalon trademark on the development of the osteoarthrotic changes. Twelve days after the operation, osteoarthrotic changes were evident in the untreated operated joints. After 36 days the damage caused to the cartilage was already radical. The immobility of the operated joint also gave rise to obvious changes in the cartilage of the knee joints which had not undergone an operation. The irregular weight distribution due to the fixation of one joint was apparently enough to provoke degenerative processes on the other side. When the cartilage bone marrow extract Rumalon trademark was administered three times weekly (0.5 mg/kg body weight i.m.) a distinct retardation of the osteoarthrotic development in the early stages was observed. Where the changes had penetrated to the inner cartilage layers, no difference could be established compared to the untreated animals.