RESEARCH ARTICLE
Osteoarthritis: New Insights in Animal Models
Umile Giuseppe Longo*, 1, 2, Mattia Loppini 1, 2, Caterina Fumo 1, 2, Giacomo Rizzello 1, 2, Wasim Sardar Khan 3, Nicola Maffulli 4, Vincenzo Denaro 1, 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
Issue: Suppl 3
First Page: 558
Last Page: 563
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-6-558
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001206010558
Article History:
Received Date: 14/7/2012Revision Received Date: 14/9/2012
Acceptance Date: 23/9/2012
Electronic publication date: 30/11/2012
Collection year: 2012
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
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequent and symptomatic health problem in the middle-aged and elderly population, with over one-half of all people over the age of 65 showing radiographic changes in painful knees. The aim of the present study was to perform an overview on the available animal models used in the research field on the OA. Discrepancies between the animal models and the human disease are present. As regards human ‘idiopathic’ OA, with late onset and slow progression, it is perhaps wise not to be overly enthusiastic about animal models that show severe chondrodysplasia and very early OA. Advantage by using genetically engineered mouse models, in comparison with other surgically induced models, is that molecular etiology is known. Find potential molecular markers for the onset of the disease and pay attention to the role of gender and environmental factors should be very helpful in the study of mice that acquire premature OA. Surgically induced destabilization of joint is the most widely used induction method. These models allow the temporal control of disease induction and follow predictable progression of the disease. In animals, ACL transection and meniscectomy show a speed of onset and severity of disease higher than in humans after same injury.
