Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Standardized Histomorphometric Evaluation of Osteoarthritis in a Surgical Mouse Model
Published on: May 6, 2020
Characteristics of joint degeneration in hand osteoarthritis
Leonid Kalichman1, Eugene Kobyliansky, Gregory Livshits
1Human Population Biology Research Unit, Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.
Objectives:
To assess quantitatively the relative contribution of joint degeneration characteristics such as osteophytes (OS), joint space narrowing (JS), subchondral sclerosis (SS), subchondral cysts (SC), lateral deformity (LD) and cortical collapse (CC) to the Kellgren and Lawrence (K-L) score grade of hand osteoarthritis (OA).
Methods:
Radiographs of both hands were taken from 1245 study participants, native Chuvasha, Russian Federation. K-L score and the six above-mentioned characteristics were assessed on 15 joints of each hand. Multiple regression and correlation analyses were performed: for rows of hand joints and groups of thumb joints, and for the aforementioned rows but assigned into six age groups.
Results And Conclusions:
According to the K-L grading system the relative contribution of OS to joint degeneration was high in all stages of the process. JS and SS played an important role in determining the K-L score in persons younger than 40 but less so in older people. Conversely, influence of SC and LD is insignificant at the onset of OA (i.e., in young persons), yet in older people it was a leading determinant of the K-L score. CC exerts no influence on the K-L score of OA.
Related Concept Videos
Functional Classification of Joints
The functional classification of joints is determined by the amount of mobility between the adjacent bones. Joints are functionally classified as a synarthrosis or immobile joint, an amphiarthrosis or slightly moveable joint, or as a diarthrosis, a freely moveable joint. Fibrous and cartilaginous joints can be functionally classified as either synarthroses or amphiarthroses, whereas all synovial joints are classified as diarthroses.
Synarthrosis
An immobile...
Structural Joints: Synovial Joints
Ankle Joint
Development of the Limb Synovial Joints
The mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into chondrocytes that form the hyaline cartilage, and later the cartilaginous model of the bone. This model further transforms into a bone. This process is known as endochondral ossification.
During development, the limbs...
Degenerative Disc Disease I: Introduction
Degenerative Disc Disease ll: Pathophysiology

