title: Effect of experimental patellar luxation on the knee joint in the rat.
abstract: In 16 male Wistar albino rats the patella was fixed to the lateral aspect of the lateral condylus of the femur. Animals with luxated knee joint and controls were sacrificed 7-9 months after surgery. Operated knee joints were processed for histology and subjected to morphometric analysis in comparison to the controls.- It was found that (1) the artificial disturbance of the femoro-patellar junction resulted in a severe destruction of articular cartilages of the tibio-femoral and femoro-patellar junction; (2) the destructions progressed with time; (3) there was no substantial difference between the changes of the medial and lateral articular surfaces of the femur and tibia; (4) changes comprised focal cartilage necrosis, widening of cartilaginous area under the tide-mark, proliferation of subchondral bone and formation of osteophytes; (5) the fact that a change of the statics of femoro-patellar junction leads to panarthrosis, moreover that articular capsule, menisci, epi-, meta-, and diaphyseal bone areas are also involved, indicate the complexity of the question. The findings indicated that changes of the femoro-patellar junction play a role in the degenerative processes of the knee joint. It is concluded that early recognition and treatment of femoro-patellar alterations may help in the prevention of knee panarthrosis.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005269:Femur / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004204:Joint Dislocations / Q000473:pathology*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000209:etiology*; D010329:Patella / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains