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Contrast-enhanced CT using a cationic contrast agent enables non-destructive assessment of the biochemical and biomechanical properties of mouse tibial plateau cartilage.

ABSTRACT: Mouse models of osteoarthritis (OA) are commonly used to study the disease's pathogenesis and efficacy of potential treatments. However, measuring the biochemical and mechanical properties of articular cartilage in these models currently requires destructive and time-consuming histology and mechanical testing. Therefore, we examined the feasibility of using contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) to rapidly and non-destructively image and assess the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content. Using three ex vivo C57BL/6 mouse tibial plateaus, we determined the time required for the cationic contrast agent CA4+ to equilibrate in the cartilage. The whole-joint coefficient of friction (μ) of 10 mouse knees (some digested with Chondroitenase ABC to introduce variation in GAG) was evaluated using a modified Stanton pendulum. For both the medial and lateral tibial plateau cartilage of these knees, linear regression was used to compare the equilibrium CECT attenuations to μ, as well as each side's indentation equilibrium modulus (E) and Safranin-O determined GAG content. CA4+ equilibrated in the cartilage in 30.9 ± 0.95 min (mean ± SD, tau value of 6.17 ± 0.19 min). The mean medial and lateral CECT attenuation was correlated with μ (R(2) = 0.69, p < 0.05), and the individual medial and lateral CECT attenuations correlated with their respective GAG contents (R(2) ≥ 0.63, p < 0.05) and E (R(2) ≥ 0.63, p < 0.05). In conclusion, CECT using CA4+ is a simple, non-destructive technique for three-dimensional imaging of ex vivo mouse cartilage, and significant correlations between CECT attenuation and GAG, E, and μ are observed. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1130-1138, 2016.

SUBMITTER: Lakin BA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5556386 | biostudies-other | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Objective: To Identify gene changes in the medial tibial plateau of articular cartilage at 2, 4 and 8 weeks after destabilisation of the medial meniscus (DMM) in mice and compare our data set with previously published sets to ascertain dysregulated pathways and genes in osteoarthritis. Materials and methods: RNA was extracted from the ipsilateral and contralateral medial tibial plateaus, amplified, labelled and hybridized on Illumina WG_v2 microarrays. Results were confirmed by RT-PCR for selected genes. Results: Transcriptional analysis and network reconstruction revealed changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) and cytoskeletal genes induced by DMM. TGFalpha signalling pathway and complement and coagulation cascade genes were regulated at 2 weeks. Fibronectin (FN1) is a hub in a reconstructed network of potential protein-protein interactions at 2 weeks. Regulated genes decrease over time and by eight weeks fibromodulin (FMOD) and tenascin N (TNN) are the only dysregulated genes present in the DMM operated knees. Comparison with human and rodent published gene sets discovered genes overlapping between our array and 6 others. Conclusions: Cartilage contributes a minute percentage to the RNA extracted from the whole joint (>0.2%), yet is sensitive to changes in gene expression post-DMM. The post-DMM transcriptional reprogramming wanes over time and dissipates by 8 weeks. Common pathways between published gene sets include focal adhesion, regulation of actin cytoskeleton and TGFalpha. Common genes include Jagged 1 (Jag1), Tetraspanin 2 (Tspan2), neuroblastoma, suppression of tumourigenicity 1 (Nbl1) and N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 (Ndrg2). The concomitant genes and pathways we identify are novel and warrant further investigation as biomarkers or modulators of osteoarthritis. In total 18 samples. Each sample was a pool of the medial tibial plateau of 8 mice. Two categories (Treated and untreated) with three biological replicates each and three time points (2, 4 and 8 weeks post-surgery).

Project description:Articular cartilage lines the load-bearing surfaces of long bones and undergoes compositional and structural degeneration during osteoarthritis progression. Contrast enhanced microcomputed tomography (?CT) is being applied to a variety of preclinical models, including the mouse, to map structural and compositional properties in 3-D. The thinness (?30-50??m) and high cellularity of mouse articular cartilage presents a significant imaging challenge. Our group previously showed that mouse articular cartilage and proteoglycan (PG) content can be assessed by ?CT with the ioxagalate-based contrast agent Hexabrix, but the voxel size used (6??m) was deemed to be barely adequate. The objective of the present study is to assess the utility of a novel contrast agent, CA4+, to quantify mouse articular cartilage morphology and composition with high resolution ?CT imaging (3??m voxels) and to compare the sensitivity of CA4+ and Hexabrix to detect between-group differences. While both contrast agents are iodine-based, Hexabrix is anionic and CA4+ is cationic so they interact differently with negatively charged PGs. With CA4+, a strong correlation was found between non-calcified articular cartilage thickness measurements made with histology and ?CT (R2 ?=?0.72, p?<?0.001). Cartilage degeneration-as assessed by loss in volume, thickness, and PG content-was observed in 34-week-old mice when compared to both 7- and 12-week-old mice. High measurement precision was observed with CA4+, with the coefficient of variation after repositioning and re-imaging samples equaling 2.8%, 4.5%, 7.4% and 5.9% for attenuation, thickness, volume, and PG content, respectively. Use of CA4+ allowed increased sensitivity for assessing PG content compared to Hexabrix, but had no advantage for measurement of cartilage thickness or volume. This improvement in imaging should prove useful in preclinical studies of cartilage degeneration and regeneration. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:2740-2748, 2017.

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Contrast-enhanced CT using a cationic contrast agent enables non-destructive assessment of the biochemical and biomechanical properties of mouse tibial plateau cartilage.

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