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Excessive degradation of type II collagen in articular cartilage in equine osteochondrosis
Author(s) -
Laverty S.,
O'Kouneff S.,
Ionescu M.,
Reiner A.,
Pidoux I.,
Webber C.,
Rossier Y.,
Billinghurst R. C.,
Poole A. R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1016/s0736-0266(02)00053-0
Subject(s) - collagenase , type ii collagen , pathogenesis , cartilage , osteoarthritis , cleavage (geology) , proteoglycan , collagen, type i, alpha 1 , osteochondrosis , pathology , chemistry , medicine , extracellular matrix , aggrecan , type i collagen , articular cartilage , anatomy , biology , biochemistry , paleontology , alternative medicine , fracture (geology) , enzyme
Abstract Articular osteochondrosis (OCD) occurs in both man and animals. The etiology remains to be determined. Studies of OCD lesions in animals may provide clues as to its pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to determine whether there was evidence for increased degradation namely proteoglycan (PG) release and type II collagen cleavage in articular cartilage harvested from OCD lesions. We examined ex vivo explants at post‐mortem from equine OCD lesions and macroscopically normal site and age matched cartilage. These were cultured over a 10 day period in serum‐free medium. Type II collagen cleavage was measured in articular cartilage and media using an Elisa assay to detect the COL2‐3/C short epitope, which is generated on cleavage of the triple helix of type II collagen by collagenases. PG release was measured by a dye‐binding assay. Cumulative release of PG and COL2‐3/4C short and their contents in cartilage at the end of the culture period were determined. In OCD lesions there was a significant increase in type II collagen cleavage by collagenase but no evidence for increase of PG degradation. These findings point to a selective increase in type II collagen cleavage by collagenases, in OCD lesions of the kind observed in osteoarthritis. Further work is needed to determine whether changes represent primary or secondary events in the pathogenesis of OCD. © 2002 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.