Effects of running exercise on cartilage in rats with an unstable knee joint / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of running exercise on cartilage in rats with an unstable knee joint.Methods Twenty 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats had their left anterior cruciate ligament cut to model an unstable knee.They were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group,10 rats in each group.The control group was given no intervention,while the experimental group accepted running exercise training on na animal treadmill at a velocity of 15 m/min for an hour every day.After 3 and 6 weeks of training,5 rats were sacrificed and cartilage from the medial condyle of the femur was sampled,decalcificated,embedded and sliced on the sagittal plane.After hematoxylin-eosin staining,toluidine blue staining and immunohistochemical staining,the cartilage thickness,Mankin' score,the content of matrix collagen and the proteoglycan content of the cartilage matrix were assessed,and the shape and structure of the unstable knee joints were observed under a transmission electron microscope.Results The cartilage thicknesses and Mankin's scores at 6 weeks were significantly different from those at 3 weeks in both groups.In the experimental group the average thickness of cartilage was 154 ± 13 μm at 3 weeks and 131 ± 15 μm at 6 weeks.The corresponding Mankin's scores were 9.93 ± 1.36 and 11.23 ± 1.57,respectively.Both were significantly different from the control group averages at the same time points.There was also a significant difference in the positive rate of toluidine blue and collagen type Ⅱ staining between the experimental group and the control group at both time points,and in the experimental group between 3 and 6 weeks of training.After 3 weeks of training,fewer chondrocytes were observed under the transmission electron microscope in the experimental group,and fissures were seen on the surface of the cartilages.However,3 weeks later,quite a few ruptures and a lot of necrotic cells could be seen.Conclusions Running exercise can damage the cartilage of unstable knee joints and speed up the development of osteoarthritis.Even moderate exercise could aggravate damage to unstable joints and the cartilage matrix,and accelerate chondrocyte degeneration.