Sodium visibility and quantitation in intact bovine articular cartilage using high field (23)Na MRI and MRS

Noninvasive methods of detecting cartilage degeneration can have an impact on identifying the early stages of osteoarthritis. Accurate measurement of sodium concentrations within the cartilage matrix provides a means for analyzing tissue integrity. Here a method is described for quantitating sodium concentration and visibility in cartilage, with general applications to all tissue types. The sodium concentration in bovine patellar cartilage plugs was determined by three different methods: NMR spectroscopy of whole cartilage plugs, NMR spectroscopy of liquefied cartilage in concentrated HCl, and inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. Whole bovine patellae were imaged with relaxation normalized calibration phantoms to ascertain sodium concentrations inside the articular cartilage. Sodium concentrations in intact articular cartilage were found to range from approximately 200 mM on the edges to approximately 390 mM in the center, with an average of approximately 320 mM in five separate bovine patellae studied. In essence, we have created sodium distribution maps of the cartilage, showing for the first time, spatial variations of sodium concentration in intact cartilage. This average concentration measurement correlates very well with the values obtained from the spectroscopic methods. Furthermore, sodium was found to be 100% NMR visible in cartilage plugs. Applications of this method in diagnosing and monitoring treatment of osteoarthritis are discussed.