Healing of Circular Defects in the Rabbit Medial Meniscus Can Occur Spontaneously and Is not Improved by Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid

S. Collier; N. Hope; P. Ghosh

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1632504

Veterinary and Comparative Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Table of Contents

Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 1996; 09(02): 60-5
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1632504

Original Research

Schattauer GmbH

Healing of Circular Defects in the Rabbit Medial Meniscus Can Occur Spontaneously and Is not Improved by Intra-Articular Hyaluronic Acid

S. Collier

¹From the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratories, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia

,

N. Hope

¹From the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratories, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia

,

P. Ghosh

¹From the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Laboratories, University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW, Australia

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Summary

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of intra-articular hyaluronic acid on meniscal healing. Circular defects, 1.0 mm in diameter, were made in the anterior third of the medial meniscus in rabbits. In one joint, 0.4 ml hyaluronic acid (Healon^®) was instilled, and in the contralateral (control) joint, 0.4 ml Ringer’s saline. Four rabbits were killed after four, eight and 12 weeks and the menisci examined histologically. By eight weeks most of the lesions had healed by filling with hyaline-like cartilage. Healing was not improved by hyaluronic acid treatment. The repair tissue stained strongly with alcian blue, and the presence of type II collagen, keratan sulphate, and chondroitin sulphate was demonstrated by immunohistochemical localisation. In contrast to the circular defects, longitudinal incisions made in the medial menisci of a further six rabbits did not show any healing after 12 weeks, indicating that the shape of the lesion largely determined the potential for healing.

The effect of hyaluronic acid on meniscal healing was tested in a rabbit model. With one millimeter circular lesions in the medial meniscus, healing by filling with hyalinelike cartilage was not significantly affected by the application of hyaluronic acid intra-articularly at the time of surgery, compared to saline controls, as assessed histologically four, eight and 12 weeks after the operation.

Keywords

Meniscal repair - hyaluronic acid - type II collagen

Full Text

References

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