Distinguishing ankle and knee articular cartilage☆
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Joints were obtained from a total of 2142 donors (1866 talocrural donors only, the remainder were knee/ankle donors) through the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network according to their policies and with Institutional Review Board approval. None of the donors had a known history of joint disease. Donors with obvious bone changes, including fractures, were excluded from the study. Age, gender, race, and cause of death were obtained for each donor. Tali were analyzed from 4005 ankle
Results
The age distribution of the donors whose joints were assessed for this study is shown in Fig. 2. The donor population was 77% male and 23% female, 91% Caucasian, 6% African American, 2% Hispanic, and <1% Asian. Causes of death were recorded as myocardial infarction or cardiopulmonary accident (72%), accidental death (16%), and stroke (12%). Of the 1249 donors that were assessed for weight, 33% of the women and 23% of the men were considered overweight. This profile reflects the donor population
Discussion
Although the relationship of degenerative articular cartilage alterations to clinical/symptomatic OA is unclear, investigators who documented changes, especially in the knee, assumed that the tissue alterations represented pre-OA. Earlier reports on the prevalence of degeneration in the ankle cartilage were contradictory. Our own study [25] that was based on 50 cadaveric specimens reported that 18% of ankles had full-thickness defects (Collins grades 3 and 4); however, the mean age of this
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation to the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network (formerly known as The Regional Organ Bank of Illinois) and the donor families for access to the human tissues.
References (31)
- et al.
Effect of collagen turnover on the accumulation of advanced glycation end products
J Biol Chem
(2000) - et al.
Human knee and ankle cartilage explants: catabolic differences
J Orthop Res
(2002) - et al.
Prevalence of articular cartilage degeneration in the ankle and knee joints of human organ donors
J Orthop Sci
(1999) - et al.
Prevalence of degenerative morphological changes in the joints of the lower extremity
Osteoarthritis Cartilage
(1997) The epidemiology of osteoarthritis: prevalence and risk factors.
- et al.
Osteoarthritis of the ankle
Clin Ortho Rel Res
(1998) Osteoarthrosis of the talar joints in footballers and ballet dancers
Acta Orthop Scand
(1961)- et al.
Propensity for osteoarthritis and lower limb joint pain in retired professional soccer players
Br J Sports Med
(2001) Epidemiologic perspectives on women and arthritis. An overview
Arth Care Res
(1996)Degenerative arthritis of the ankle secondary to long-standing lateral ligament instability
J Bone Joint Surg
(1979)
Osteoarthritis of weight bearing joints of lower limbs in former elite male athletes
BMJ
Osteoarthritis in ankle and knee joints
Sem Arthritis Rheum
Changes in cartilage metabolism in arthritis are reflected by altered serum and synovial fluid levels of the cartilage proteoglycan aggrecan. Implications for pathogenesis
J Clin Invest
Cartilage integrity and homeostasis
Cited by (33)
Characteristic Bone Morphology Change of the Subtalar Joint in Severe Varus Ankle Osteoarthritis
2022, Journal of Foot and Ankle SurgeryConservative Treatment of Ankle Osteoarthritis: Can Platelet-Rich Plasma Effectively Postpone Surgery?
2017, Journal of Foot and Ankle SurgeryBiochemical cartilage alteration and unexpected signal recovery in T2* mapping observed in ankle joints with mobile MRI during a transcontinental multistage footrace over 4486km
2014, Osteoarthritis and CartilageCitation Excerpt :As such, it was considered to be the only viable option. We hypothesize that the ankle joint will reveal overall superior resilience to degeneration9, unless a pre-existing injury is present. Our goal in this study was to explore the physiological adaptive capacity of the TTJ cartilage under conditions of extreme wear and address the question how much is too much?
High prevalence of contralateral ankle abnormalities in association with knee osteoarthritis and malalignment
2013, Osteoarthritis and CartilageOsteoarthritis of the Ankle: Bridging Concepts in Basic Science with Clinical Care
2009, Clinics in Podiatric Medicine and SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Ankle cartilage has a higher equilibrium modulus, greater dynamic stiffness, and lower hydraulic permeability than knee cartilage.65 These properties may provide ankle cartilage with greater resistance to mechanical injury than knee cartilage.65,66 In studies comparing matrix turnover in normal and early-stage OA in ankles and knees, distinct differences were noted in how cartilage from each of these joints responded to injury.
- ☆
This work was supported by Grant No. 2-P50-AR39239 from the National Institutes of Health.