Bilateral canine model of osteoarthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether bilateral arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection creates symmetrical osteoarthritis (OA) in canine knees.


METHODS
Six dogs underwent bilateral arthroscopic ACL transections. The animals were sacrificed at intervals ranging from 2 to 12 months post ACL transection. Both knees in each animal were assessed for gross pathology, histology, and biochemistry.


RESULTS
The limited invasiveness of arthroscopic ACL transection allowed bilateral ACL transections to be performed with minimal animal morbidity. Gross pathological, histological, and biochemical assessments of bilaterally ACL transected canine knees consistently confirmed the induction of OA changes in both knees. Of note, there was no significant difference in the degree of articular cartilage degeneration created in each pair of knees.


CONCLUSIONS
Bilateral ACL transection induces symmetrical canine knee OA. This approach provides a potent model for investigating fundamental OA mechanisms and therapeutic approaches, since one knee can be experimentally manipulated while the other knee is used as a control. This allows each animal to be its own internal control, avoiding the interanimal variability associated with the unilateral canine OA model.
Marshall
K W
KW
Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Toronto, Canada.
Chan
A D
AD
D000818:Animals; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000473:pathology; D001182:Arthroscopy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004285:Dogs; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*