Cartilage and serum levels of nitric oxide in patients with hip osteoarthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To assess whether nitric oxide (NO) is related to cartilage deterioration resulting from osteoarthritis, NO concentrations were analyzed in normal and deteriorated areas of cartilage obtained from femur heads of patients with primary hip osteoarthritis (HOA).


METHODS
The concentration of NO in macroscopically deteriorated and non-deteriorated cartilage of femoral heads of patients with HOA at hip replacement surgery was analyzed spectrophotometrically. Serum NO levels were also determined in 16 ambulatory patients with hip OA and in healthy volunteers.


RESULTS
NO levels of non-deteriorated areas of femoral head cartilage were significantly lower (3.82+/-1.30 micromol/l; mean +/- SD) than levels of deteriorated cartilage areas (11.07+/-6.48 micromol/l; p<0.01). The surgery HOA group showed serum NO levels (2.64+/-0.32 micromol/l; p<0.0001 vs. healthy group) similar to the ambulatory HOA group levels (2.56+/-0.56 micromol/l; p<0.0001 vs. healthy group). Serum NO concentrations in healthy volunteers were 1.37+/-0.55 micromol/l.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows increased NO levels in joint cartilage of patients with hip OA. This increase was not homogeneously distributed, but the higher NO levels were found in macroscopically deteriorated areas. The data also suggest that high NO serum levels found in patients with hip OA may be due to joint cartilage destruction.
Salvatierra
J
J
Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Granada, Spain.
Escames
G
G
Hernandez
P
P
Cantero
J
J
Crespo
E
E
Leon
J
J
Salvatierra
D
D
Acuña-Castroviejo
D
D
Vives
F
F
D000368:Aged; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015207:Osteoarthritis, Hip / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D009569:Nitric Oxide