In vivo loads in the medial compartment of the rabbit knee.
BACKGROUND
The compressive loads produced in the medial compartment of a rabbit knee during hopping are unknown, and necessary for the development of an animal model to study unicompartmental osteoarthritis.


METHODS
In an effort to obtain such data, a surgical procedure was developed to insert a pressure sensor into the medial tibial compartment of a New Zealand white rabbit knee joint, and an inactive sensor of the same thickness into the lateral tibial compartment. After the rabbits recovered from anesthesia, contact pressure was measured as the rabbits hopped.


RESULTS
The average peak pressure in the medial compartment was 60 N/cm2 (SD 16), a value that corresponds to 39% of the animals' body weight (range: 21-61%, SD 11%).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report of measured in vivo pressures associated with the load transmitted through the medial compartment of the skeletally mature New Zealand White rabbit, a model frequently used to study the progression of osteoarthritis.
Coughlin
Kathryn M
KM
Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, McClure Musculoskeletal Research Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. kathryn.coughlin@uvm.edu
Peura
Glenn D
GD
Fleming
Braden C
BC
Hallock
Scott
S
Beynnon
Bruce D
BD
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology; D011312:Pressure; D011817:Rabbits; D014743:Videotape Recording