title: Investigation of cartilage degradation in patients with spinal cord injury by CTX-II.
abstract: METHODS
  Clinical cross-sectional study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the cartilage degradation by turnover of C-telopeptide fragments of collagen type-II (CTX-II), a molecule specific for articular cartilage in spinal cord injured patients with respect to clinical functional status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics, hospital settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 68 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) level and severity of lesion, duration of disease, American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS), motor and sensory score, presence of spasticity, functional ambulation score (FAS) and duration of daily ambulation were evaluated. Cartilage degradation was demonstrated by urinary CTX-II (uCTX-II) measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. T test, analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used for statistical calculations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  uCTX-II level was significantly higher in patients with AIS grade A, non-functional ambulators or in patients who did not ambulate at all (P<0.05). Although AIS grade, lower extremity motor score, FAS score and duration of daily ambulation were found to be correlated (P<0.05) with uCTX-II, duration of disease, level of neurological lesion, presence of spasticity were not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study providing evidence that cartilage degradation is associated with elevated uCTX-II levels in non-ambulating or non-functional ambulating SCI patients. AIS grade A, FAS zero score and no time for daily ambulation were found to cause significant differences in CTX-II level. It may be important to initiate therapeutic programs as soon as possible after SCI to prevent cartilage atrophy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pamukkale, Denizli, Turkey. gulin_f@yahoo.com
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Findikoglu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gunduz
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uzun
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Erhan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rota
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ardic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002356:Cartilage / Q000378:metabolism; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000378:metabolism; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000652:urine*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000652:urine*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000652:urine*; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D024043:Collagen Type II; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C543437:collagen II C-telopeptide