変形性膝関節症治療における関節内潤滑剤のトライボロジー効果についての検証（ウサギを用いた動物実験での評価）

概要

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The effect intra-articular administration of the hyaluronic acid (HA) for the treatment of osteoarthritis knee joint has been widely recognized. However, the efficacy of mechanical tribology function of HA as a viscosupplementation to joint lubrication has not yet been confirmed. To examine in vivo the effects of enhancement of tribology function of joint lubricant for the treatment of osteoarthritis, animal experiment was performed. Experiment osteoarthritis of the both of knee joints of three rabbits was induced by meniscsectomy and cartilage defects. These animals were subjected to monthly intra-articular cartilage injection of high viscous polyethylene glycol (PEG) to one side knee joint (another side was not injected as a control knee), and were sacrificed at 3 month after operation. The extracted knee joints were evaluated macroscopically and histologically. As a results, the PEG injected knees had a tendency to demonstrate less damage of articular cartilage compared with the control group. This finding indicated that the development and addition of mechanical lubricant for the preventing of articular cartilage wear could have potential to be one of effective treatment for arthritis.