Abstract
Purpose
A rabbit model of osteochondral defects (OD) and spontaneous healing was longitudinally followed over 12 weeks, by in vivo joint scintigraphy using 99mTc-NTP 15-5, and histology.
Methods
We used two models, one with one OD (OD1 group) in the femoral condyle of one knee and the other with two ODs (OD2 group) in the femoral condyle of one knee, with the contralateral knees serving as the reference. A serial longitudinal imaging study was performed with the scintigraphic ratio (SR, operated knee uptake/contralateral knee uptake) determined at each time-point.
Results
ODs were imaged as radioactive defects. The SR was decreased with respective to controls, with values of 0.73 ± 0.08 and 0.65 ± 0.07 in the OD1 and OD2 groups, respectively, at 4 weeks after surgery. Histology of both OD groups revealed the presence of repair tissue characterized by a small amount of sulphated glycosaminoglycans and collagen.
Conclusion
99mTc-NTP 15-5 imaging provided quantitative criteria useful for in vivo evaluation of cartilage trauma and healing.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the financial support of the Regional Fund Innovation (grant FRI2/OSEO to UMR 990 INSERM), and of the Arthritis Courtin Foundation, the Société Française de Rhumatologie, ANR young researchers scartifold project, and ANR Tecsan Chondrograft “fondation de l’avenir” (to INSERM U791).
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Miot-Noirault, E., Guicheux, J., Vidal, A. et al. In vivo experimental imaging of osteochondral defects and their healing using 99mTc-NTP 15-5 radiotracer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 39, 1169–1172 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-012-2081-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-012-2081-4