Joint articular cartilage

The salicylates and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) are important in the treatment of arthritic conditions. For example, the salicylates and NSAIDs are used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic disease characterized by inflammatory changes within the body s connective tissue) and osteoarthritis (a noninflammatory joint disease resulting in degeneration of the articular cartilage and... 

Osteoarthritis is a noninflammatory degenerative joint disease marked by degeneration of the articular cartilage, changes in the synovial membrane, and hypertrophy of the bone at the margins. 

RA is a chronic systemic disease that produces inflammatory changes throughout the connective tissue in the body. It affects joints and other organ systems of the body. Destruction of articular cartilage occurs, affecting joint structure and mobility. RA primarily affects individuals between 20 and 40 years of age. 

Hydropolymer gel has been considered as a possible candidate for an artificial articular cartilage in artificial joints because it exhibits very low friction when it is in contact with a solid. The origin of such low friction is considered to be associated with the water absorbed in the gel [83-86], some of which is squeezed out from the gel under the load and serves as a lubricant layer between the gel and solid surface, resulting in hydrodynamic lubrication [87, 88]. Although the structural information about the interfacial water is important to understand the role of water for the low frictional properties of hydrogel in contact with a solid and the molecular structure of lubricants other than water at solid/solid interfaces have been investigated theoretically [89-91] and experimentally [92-98], no experimental investigations on water structure at gel/solid interfaces have been carried out due to the lack of an effective experimental technique. 

Osteoarthritis proves to be a more complex disease than autoimmune disease, with multiple variable manifestations like knee, hip, hand, DIP, elbow, shoulder, and spinal joints OA, which have different risk factors. The etiology of OA is multifactorial with inflammatory, metabolic and mechanical causes. A number of personal and environmental risk factors, such as obesity, occupation, and trauma, may initiate various pathological pathways. OA comprises degeneration of articular cartilage together with changes in subchondral bone of the joint margins and mild intraarticular inflammation. 

Hardingham, T. and Bayliss, M. (1990). Proteoglycans of articular cartilage Changes in aging and in joint disease. Semin. Arthritis Rheum. 20,12-33. 

Figure 4-16 (A) Dark field electron micrograph of a proteoglycan aggregate from bovine articular cartilage (from bearing surfaces of joints). Courtesy of Joseph A. Buckwalter. The filamentous backbone consists of hyaluronic acid, as in (B). The proteoglycan subunits extend from the backbone. From Rosenberg.149...

It has been suggested that dietary supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate may help protect articular cartilage and halt or reverse joint degeneration in osteoarthritis. These two compounds are key ingredients needed for the production of several... 

Inhibitors of matrix metaloproteases also reside in normal hyaline cartilage, where they may inhibit vascular invasion [107]. Blood vessel invasion into cartilage induces endochondral ossification, a normal process in the growth of long bones, but which would be undesirable, for example, in the articular cartilage. Loss of angioinhibitory activity within articular cartilage may contribute to the vascular invasion and ossification, which characterizes the osteoarthritic joint [108, 109],... 

Ostergaard K, Andersen CB, Petersen J et al. (1999) Validity of histopathological grading of articular cartilage from osteoarthritic knee joints. Ann Rheum Dis 58 208-213... 

Rosenberg L (1971) Chemical basis for the histological use of safranin-O in the study of articular cartilage. J Bone Joint Surgery 53A 69-82... 

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