[The effect of anterior cruciate ligament rupture and reconstruction on the degeneration of articular cartilage in rabbit knee].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of rupture and reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on the degeneration of rabbit knee articular cartilage.


METHODS
14 mature New Zealand white rabbits were divided into four groups. In group I, the ACL of the right knees in 7 rabbits was resected and immediately reconstructed, and the contralateral ACL was resected only in controll f group I. In group II, the ACL of the right knees in 7 rabbits was reconstructed 3 weeks after the ACL was resected and the contralateral joints in control group II, in which only a medial arthrotomy was performed. The rabbits were killed 8 weeks after the operation. The methods of ink straining, histology and SEM were used to analyze the changes in articular cartilage of the joints.


RESULTS
The results of ink method and HE straining were analyzed quantitatively. The degeneration of knee articular cartilage in group I was significantly weaker than that in control group I (Hc = 5.9889, P = 0.0144). The degeneration of knee articular cartilage in group II was as serious as that in control group I (Hc = 0.7143, P = 0.785).


CONCLUSIONS
Immediate reconstruction of the ACL can effectively prevent articular cartilage from degeneration. Once the articular cartilage damaged moderately, delayed reconstruction of the ACL could not effectively reduce the development of degeneration. So once the ACL is ruptured, reconstruction should be performed in the early stage to restore the stability of knee joint to prevent the articular cartilage from degeneration.
Institute of Sports Medicine, Third Hospital, Peking University, Beijing 100083, China.
Haibin
H
Xue
Yingfang
Y
Ao
Changlong
C
Yu
Jiying
J
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011817:Rabbits