Combined Effect of Bilateral Ovariectomy and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Transection With Medial Meniscectomy on the Development of Osteoarthritis Model.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the combined effect of bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) and anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) with medial meniscectomy (MM) on the development of osteoarthritis (OA).


METHODS
Twenty female 15-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Five rats in each group underwent bilateral OVX (OVX group), bilateral ACLT with MM (ACLT with MM group), bilateral OVX plus ACLT with MM (OVX plus ACLT with MM group), and sham surgery (SHAM group). All the rats were subjected to treadmill running for 4 weeks. The behavioral evaluation for induction of OA used the number of rears method, and this was conducted at 1, 2, and 4 weeks post-surgery. Bone mineral density (BMD) was calculated with micro-computerized tomography images and the modified Mankin's scoring was used for the histological changes.


RESULTS
The number of rears in the OVX plus ACLT with MM group decreased gradually and more rapidly in the ACLT with MM group. Histologically, the OVX plus ACLT with MM group had a significantly higher modified Mankin's score than the OVX group (p=0.008) and the SHAM group (p=0.008). BMDs of the OVX plus ACLT with MM group were significantly lower than the SHAM group (p=0.002), and the ACLT with MM group (p=0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
We found that bilateral OVX plus ACLT with MM induced definite OA change in terms of histology and BMD compared to bilateral OVX and ACLT with MM alone. Therefore, OVX and ACLT with MM was an appropriate degenerative OA rat model.
Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Lim
0000-0001-8267-2748
JL
Kim
Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chang Won
0000-0003-4096-7470
CW
Moon
Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young Suk
0000-0003-1328-4631
YS
Son
Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sang Jun
0000-0002-0479-7526
SJ
Kim
Animal model; Anterior cruciate ligament; Meniscus; Osteoarthritis; Ovariectomy