Early detection of aging cartilage and osteoarthritis in mice and patient samples using atomic force microscopy.
The pathological changes in osteoarthritis--a degenerative joint disease prevalent among older people--start at the molecular scale and spread to the higher levels of the architecture of articular cartilage to cause progressive and irreversible structural and functional damage. At present, there are no treatments to cure or attenuate the degradation of cartilage. Early detection and the ability to monitor the progression of osteoarthritis are therefore important for developing effective therapies. Here, we show that indentation-type atomic force microscopy can monitor age-related morphological and biomechanical changes in the hips of normal and osteoarthritic mice. Early damage in the cartilage of osteoarthritic patients undergoing hip or knee replacements could similarly be detected using this method. Changes due to aging and osteoarthritis are clearly depicted at the nanometre scale well before morphological changes can be observed using current diagnostic methods. Indentation-type atomic force microscopy may potentially be developed into a minimally invasive arthroscopic tool to diagnose the early onset of osteoarthritis in situ.
Stolz
Martin
M
M.E. Müller Institute for Structural Biology, Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland. martin.stolz@unibas.ch
Gottardi
Riccardo
R
Raiteri
Roberto
R
Miot
Sylvie
S
Martin
Ivan
I
Imer
Raphaël
R
Staufer
Urs
U
Raducanu
Aurelia
A
Düggelin
Marcel
M
Baschong
Werner
W
Daniels
A U
AU
Friederich
Niklaus F
NF
Aszodi
Attila
A
Aebi
Ueli
U
D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D024081:Collagen Type IX / Q000172:deficiency; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D013499:Surface Properties
D024081:Collagen Type IX