The biochemical content of articular cartilage: an original MRI approach

The MR aspect of articular cartilage, that reflects the interactions between protons and macromolecular constituents, is affected by the intrinsic tissue structure (water content, the content of matrix constituents, collagen network organization), imager characteristics, and acquisition parameters. On the T1-weighted sequences, the bovine articular cartilage appears as an homogeneous tissue in high signal intensity, whatever the age of animals considered, whereas on the T2-weighted sequences, the articular bovine cartilage presents variations of its imaging pattern (laminar appearance) well correlated to the variations of its histological and biochemical structure. The T2 relaxation time measurement (T2 mapping), which reflects quantitatively the signal intensity variations observed on T2 weighted sequences, is a way to evaluate more precisely the modifications of cartilage structure during the aging and maturation processes (rat's study). This technique so far confined to experimental micro-imagers is now developed on clinical imagers. Consequently, it may permit to depict the early stages of osteoarthritic disease (OA) or to evaluate the chondroprotective effect of drugs.