• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.127-135
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• 2013

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of exercise of diverse intensities on the recovery of articular cartilage in osteoarthritic rats. METHODS: Over a period of four weeks, the authors applied treadmill exercise programs of diverse intensities to Sprague-Dawley rats, to which intra-articular injection of monosodium iodoacetate(MIA, 3mg/$50{\mu}l$, diluted in saline) was applied to the right knee joint to induce osteoarthritis. The four-week exercise program was not carried out with the control group(CG, n=10). Exercise programs of applicable intensities were applied to the low-intensity exercise group(LEG, n=10), moderate-intensity exercise group(MEG, n=10), and high-intensity exercise group(HEG, n=10) over the four weeks. Observations were made of morphological changes in the rats' articular cartilage, using hematoxylin and eosin stains. RESULTS: there were significant differences(p<.05) in the comparison of articular damage scores between the four groups involved. Articular cartilage damage scores were found to be significantly lower in the LEG, MEG, and HEG than in the CG, indicating that exercise helped with the recovery of cartilage. Of these latter three groups, the MEG showed the highest level of recovery, while the HEG showed the lowest. CONCLUSION: These study results suggest that exercise is effective in treating OA. They also indicate that in prescribing exercise to treat osteoarthritic patients, exercise of moderate intensity is most suitable to patients' physical conditions, rather than low or high intensity, maximizes, and so should be used to maximize the effects of therapy.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.618-622
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• 2005

Articular cartilage is an important target for studying the arthritic diseases. To verify the therapeutic effects of bee venom herb-acupuncture in vivo, 3${\mu}$l of diluted solution of bee venom for herb-acupuncture were injected into articular cavity once a day during 3 months after making full-thickness defects in rat articular cartilage. Histological examination and immunohistochemistry indicated that the chondrocyte-like tissue was formed during the repair process of cartilage injury, and the expression of a cartilage-specific protein, collagen type II, were significantly activated. It means that the expression of the gene encoding type I collagen was down-regulated, whereas those of collagen type II were up-regulated. Histological examination by hematoxylin-eosin staining indicated that the cells regained their original round morphology. In addition, a homogeneous distribution of articular cartilage extracellular matrices was detected around the cells. These results suggested that bee venom herb-acupuncture was very effective on the recovery of articular chondrocyte phenotype.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.475-482
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• 2004

For the induction of arthropathy, 4% hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was injected for 4 weeks into the intra-articular space of the 25 New Zealand white rabbits to damage articular cartilage. The verification of arthropathy induction and the effect of scan-bio laser treatment were determined by measuring superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, by observing gross and histopathologic findings. The SOD activity increased by about 40% in arthropathy group, as compared to controls. Although SOD activity in arthropathy group was not significantly different from the 2-week group, it was significantly different from the 4-week control and treatment groups. There was also a significant difference between the 4-week control and treatment groups. Grossly, erosions formed on the articular cartilage surface, and the lateral femoral condyle was damaged in arthropathy group. In comparison, there was slight, but not significant, progression of the lesion in the 2-week control group, and no difference between the 2-week treatment and control groups. Conversely, severe erosions damaged the articular cartilage in the 4-week control group. Cartilage proliferation was seen in gross observations in the 4-week treatment group, suggesting a treatment effect. Histopathologically, there was slight articular surface damage and apoptosis in arthropathy group, and serious cartilage damage, despite slight chondrocyte proliferation, in the 4-week control group. By contrast, the 4-week treatment group showed chondrocyte replacement, with close to normal articular cartilage on the articular surface. There was significant cartilage proliferation with regeneration of the articular cartilage on the articular surface in the group treated with low-level laser, as compared to control group, when arthropathy was induced by $H_2O_2$ injections. Therefore, low-level laser was effective in the treatment of chemically induced arthropathy.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.98-102
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• 2008

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an important noninvasive medical imaging technique that can reveal subsurface structures of biological tissue. OCT has demonstrated a good correlation with histology in sufficient resolution to identify morphological changes in articular cartilage to differentiate normal through progressive stages of degenerative joint disease. Current OCT systems provide individual cross-sectional images that are representative of the tissue directly under the scanning beam, but they may not fully demonstrate the degree of degeneration occurring within a region of a joint surface. For a full understanding of the nature and degree of cartilage degeneration within a joint, multiple OCT images must be obtained and an overall assessment of the joint surmised from multiple individual images. This study presents frequency domain three-dimensional (3-D) OCT imaging of degenerative joint cartilage extracted from bovine knees. The 3-D OCT imaging of articular cartilage enables the assembly of 126 individual, adjacent, rapid scanned OCT images into a full 3-D image representation of the tissue scanned, or these may be viewed in a progression of successive individual two-dimensional (2-D) OCT images arranged in 3-D orientation. A fiber-based frequency domain OCT system that provides cross-sectional images was used to acquire 126 successive adjacent images for a sample volume of $6{\times}3.2{\times}2.5\;mm^3$. The axial resolution was $8\;{\mu}m$ in air. The 3-D OCT was able to demonstrate surface topography and subsurface disruption of articular cartilage consistent with the gross image as well as with histological cross-sections of the specimen. The 3-D OCT volumetric imaging of articular cartilage provides an enhanced appreciation and better understanding of regional degenerative joint disease than may be realized by individual 2-D OCT sectional images.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.156-156
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• 2006

• 대한관절경학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.9-11
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.151-159
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• 2007

Purpose : The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of cold application on knee joint in rats induced by osteoarthritis. Methods : Osteoarthritis was induced in female Sprague-Dowley rats by injecting into articular cavity of knee joint with 4% Kaolin, 2% carrageenan. Rats were divided randomly into the control and MES applicated group. The Experimental group was applicated MES in rat knee joint for 30 minutes. Results : Recovery of articular cartilage surface and thickness of articular cartilage increased after MES application. And chondrocytes were distributed widely throughout the cartilage matrix. The physical effects of Microcurrent Electrical Stimulation. Decrease in blood flow. Delay of neurotransmitter velocity Decrease in metabolism activity and inhibit the progress of the infection. Decrease in pain and muscle rigidity, inhibition of circulation Conclusion : This study shows that MES application affects articular cartilage recovery in osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2005

We construct and test the polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) system for imaging porcine and human articular cartilages. PS-OCT is a new imaging technology that provides information regarding not only the tissue structures but tissue components that show birefringence such as collagen. In this study, we measure the cartilage thickness of the porcine joint and the phase retardation due to collagen birefringence. Also, we demonstrate that changes of the collagen fiber orientation could be detected by the PS-OCT system. Finally, differences between normal and damaged human articular cartilage are observed using the PS-OCT system, which is then compared with the regular histology pictures. As a result, the PS-OCT system is proven to be effective for diagnosis of the pathology related to the cartilage. In the future, this technology may be used for discrimination of the collagen types. When combined with endoscope technologies, the PS-OCT images may become a useful tool for in vivo tissue testing.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.761-762
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• 2003

Recently, several studies have reported on the successful repair of osteochondral defects by transplantation of cultured chondrocytes, but the method requires a sufficient number of cells obtained from the donor site in the articular cartilage. This can potentially be overcome by the use of undifferentiated or partially developed cartilage precursor cells drived from early embryos and fetal tissue. Neonatal cartilage unlike adult cartilage has the capacity for rapid regeneration. the purpose of this study is to determine effective regeneration method using early cartilage precursors for tissue-engineered cartilage. Cells isolated from neonatal (immediately postpartum, 2 hours of age) SD rats were seeded onto biodegradable polymer matrices and transplanted in nude mice's subcutaneous sites for 4 and 8 weeks. Tissue-engineered cartilage showed gross and histologic evidences similar to native articular cartilage.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1 s.65
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• pp.229-239
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• 2006

Objectives : Articular cartilage is a potential target for drugs designed to inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to stop or slow the destruction of the proteoglycan and collagen in the cartilage extracelluar matrix. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of KHBJs for cartilage-protective effect in human and rabbit articular cartilage explants. Methods : The cartilage-protective effects of KHBJ were evaluated by using glycosaminoglycan degradation assay, collagen degradation assay, colorimetric analysis of MMPs activity, and histological analysis in rabbit and human cartilage explants culture. Results : KHBJs significantly inhibited GAG and collagen release of rabbit and human cartilage explant in a concentration-dependent manner. Also, KHBJs inhibited MMP-3 and MMP-13 activities from IL-$1{\alpha}$-treated cartilage explants cultures. Histological analysis indicated that KHBJ004 reduced the degradation of the cartilage matrix compared with that of IL-$1{\alpha}$-treated cartilage explants. KHBJ004 had no harmful effect on chondrocytes viability or cartilage morphology in cartilage explants. Conclusions : These results indicate that KHBJs inhibits the degradation of proteoglycan and collagen through the downregulation of MMP-3 and MMP-13 activities without affecting the viability or morphology of IL-$1{\alpha}$-stimulated rabbit and human articular cartilage explants.