Synovium transplantation onto the cartilage denuded patellar groove of the sheep knee joint.
A macroscopic and histologic study has been made on the changes during a 2-year period in a free composite graft of synovium subsynovial fat and periosteum taken from the medial femoral condyle and placed on the cartilage denuded patellar groove of the knee joint in skeletally mature sheep. The results have been compared to a control group which had the same surgical management except that the graft was discarded. The study demonstrated that following "take" and revascularization, the composite graft had converted to a single layer of vascular fibroblastic tissue by 6 weeks and over the ensuing year this had been largely replaced by fibrocartilage of variable differentiation. However, over the next year much of this fibrocartilage would appear to have undergone either redifferentiation into disorganized fibrochondroid tissue or developed secondary degenerative changes. By contrast, the control specimens had profound resorption of the bone plate followed by patchy resurfacing with tissue ranging from a very loose fibrous connective tissue to well differentiated fibrocartilage. The latter had gradually increased in amount of over the 2-year period, but secondary degenerative changes had also developed as in the grafted group. Despite some of the drawbacks, particularly the magnitude of the patello-femoral compression force, the technique has now been refined into a reliable animal model for the study of different parameters either in the graft or the graft environment in the hope that a way can be found to increase the life span of the metaplastic cartilage.
Rothwell
A G
AG
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand.
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001862:Bone Resorption; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D007719:Knee Joint; D008679:Metaplasia; D012756:Sheep; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000637:transplantation*