Effects of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound in repairing injured articular cartilage.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound in repairing injured articular cartilage.


METHODS
Ten adult New Zealand rabbits with bilateral full-thickness osteochondral defects on the cartilage surface of intercondylar fossas were used in this study. The wounds in the left knees were treated with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound as the experimental group. The right knees received no treatment as the control group. All the animals were killed at 8 weeks after injury and the tissues in the wounds were collected for gross appearance grading, histological grading and proteoglycan quantity.


RESULTS
The scores of the gross appearance grades, histological grades and the optical density of toluidine blue of the tissues in the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the controls at 8 weeks after injury (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound can accelerate the repair of injured articular cartilage.
Jia
Xiao-lin
XL
Institute of Ultrasonic Engineering in Medicine, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing 400016, China. jiaxlin@163.com
Chen
Wen-zhi
WZ
Zhou
Kun
K
Wang
Zhi-biao
ZB
D000818:Animals; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology