Abstract

Injection with monoiode sodium acetate (MIA) is widely used to produce osteoarthritis in various joints. The aim of this work was to describe the histological damage caused by MIA in the rat humeral joint; 0.1 mL of 0.5 mg mixture of MIA dissolved in 10 mL of physiological solution was injected into the left humeral joint of 21 Sprague-Dawley rats. As a control, the right joint of each rat was used. Euthanasia was performed at 4, 8 and 12 weeks post injection in groups of 7 rats. The samples maintained in 10 % buffered formalin were descaled with EDTA for three months. For histological evaluation, paraffin inclusion was performed and 5 mu m thick coronal cuts were made for subsequent staining with toluidine blue. In the healthy cartilage, a smooth surface was observed, all cells in the cartilage areas were normal. Changes in articular cartilage were observed after 4 weeks post injection, hypertrophic radial chondrocytes with high proteoglycan production. At 12 weeks post injection, a great deterioration was observed, the articular space was diminished. The surface of the cartilage was observed with fissures and cracks that reach the radial zone. The cells around these fissures have disappeared. A prominent loss of proteoglycans was observed due to weak toluidine blue staining. Joint injection with MIA produced lesions similar to OA. The great advantage of the OA induced by MIA, is the ease of its application and the rapidity in the progression of OA.