ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the pathological change in articular cartilages after firearm injury.Methods Four rabbits from 28 New Zealand healthy rabbits were chosen as control group and subjected to joint capsule incision only. Another 24 rabbits were equally divided into 6 experimental groups( groups B to G) and subjected to medial femoral condyle cartilage surface damage by the nail gun.After the operation, their specimens were collected after 6 h,3 d,7 d,14 d,28 d and 56 d, respectively.Tissue sections were observed and stained by HE staining and toluidine blue staining.The histolopathological changes in articular cartilage after firearm injury were detected.Results The color of articular cartilages in experimental groups became lighter, the cell number increased but then decreased, the articular cartilage layer disappeared, the cell shape became uneven, cells began to cluster and the Mankin score increased, and the statistical differences between experimental groups and control group were significant.Conclusion The histological pathological changes in articular cartilages after fiream injury seem to follow some pattern.The degeneration seems obvious after 7 days and then becomes heavier.