Comparison of mouse and human ankles and establishment of mouse ankle osteoarthritis models by surgically-induced instability.

OBJECTIVE: Prevalence of ankle osteoarthritis (OA) is lower than that of knee OA, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the difference remain unrevealed. In the present study, we developed mouse ankle OA models for use as tools to investigate pathophysiology of ankle OA and molecular characteristics of ankle cartilage. DESIGN: We anatomically and histologically examined ankle and knee joints of C57BL/6 mice, and compared them with human samples. We examined joints of 8-week-old and 25-month-old mice. For experimental models, we developed three different ankle OA models: a medial model, a lateral model, and a bilateral model, by resection of respective structures. OA severity was evaluated 8 weeks after the surgery by safranin O staining, and cartilage degradation in the medial model was sequentially examined. RESULTS: Anatomical and histological features of human and mouse ankle joints were comparable. Additionally, the mouse ankle joint was more resistant to cartilage degeneration with aging than the mouse knee joint. In the medial model, the tibiotalar joint was markedly affected while the subtalar joint was less degenerated. In the lateral model, the subtalar joint was mainly affected while the tibiotalar joint was less altered. In the bilateral model, both joints were markedly degenerated. In the time course of the medial model, TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining and Adamts5 expression were enhanced at early and middle stages, while Mmp13 expression was gradually increased during the OA development. CONCLUSION: Since human and mouse ankles are comparable, the present models will contribute to ankle OA pathophysiology and general cartilage research in future.

[Schizophrenia and reverse-Stroop interference in the group version of the Stroop and reverse-Stroop test].

Previous studies showed that attentional task performance of schizophrenics was significantly inferior to that of normals. The classical Stroop Color-Word Interference Test is an example of such attentional tasks and performance on the "reverse" Stroop task is reported to discriminate schizophrenics from normals better than the regular Stroop task. These results suggest that schizophrenics are more susceptible to "reverse" Stroop interference in reading incongruent word-color combinations than normals. The group version of the Stroop and reverse-Stroop Color-Word Test, where the response is to choose a matching alternative, was used to test the hypothesis. The results virtually supported the hypothesis. In addition, interference was closely related to the patient's control of impulsiveness. It was suggested that schizophrenics have generation (or translation) deficits between different codes.