RESEARCH ARTICLE
Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on Chondrocytes Increases with Osteoarthritis - An Animal Experimental Investigation
C.O Tibesku*, 1, K Daniilidis2, A Skwara3, J Paletta3, T Szuwart4, S Fuchs-Winkelmann3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 177
Last Page: 180
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-5-177
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001105010177
Article History:
Received Date: 15/2/2011Revision Received Date: 4/4/2011
Acceptance Date: 12/4/2011
Electronic publication date: 18/5/2011
Collection year: 2011

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objective:
To evaluate the expression of VEGF by chondrocytes of hyaline cartilage during the course of osteoarthritis (OA).
Methods:
In 12 white New Zealand rabbits the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was resected to create an anterior instability of the knee. In 12 control rabbits only a sham operation without resection of the ACL was done. Four animals of each group were killed at 3, 6, and 12 weeks. The load bearing area was evaluated histologically according to Mankin and by immunostaining for VEGF.
Results:
In the experimental group, histological grades of OA showed a positive linear correlation with the time after surgery. Immunostaining showed an increased expression of VEGF in the control group after 3 weeks, which dropped to normal after 6 weeks. There was no difference in the progression of OA between control and experimental groups after 3 weeks, but a significant difference was seen after 6 (p=0,01) and 12 (p=0,05) weeks. A significant positive correlation between VEGF expression and the histological grade of OA was found (r = 0.767; p<0.01).
Conclusions:
An increase of VEGF expressing chondrocytes occurs during time course of OA.