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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Destabilization of the Medial Meniscus and Cartilage Scratch Murine Model of Accelerated Osteoarthritis
Published on: July 6, 2022
Meniscal degeneration in human knee osteoarthritis: in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry study
Mariano López-Franco1,2, O López-Franco3, M A Murciano-Antón4
1Servicio de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología, Hospital Infanta Sofía, Paseo de Europa, 34, 28702, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid, Spain. lopezfranco_cot@yahoo.es.
Objective:
Meniscus injury is one of the causes of secondary osteoarthritis (OA). However, the role of meniscus is still unclear. Human meniscal distribution of cells and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and their changes in advanced OA were analyzed.
Patients And Methods:
Thirty-one medial menisci from patients with knee OA that underwent a total knee arthroplasty were studied. Normal meniscal tissue was obtained from partial arthroscopic meniscectomy. Meniscal samples were processed for histology, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, for cell assessment including density, active divisions, apoptosis, COMP distribution and proteoglycan content.
Results:
Osteoarthritic menisci demonstrated areas of cell depletion and significant decrease in COMP immunostaining. Actively dividing cells were only found in the meniscectomy group, but not in the osteoarthritic group. Proteoglycan staining was less prominent in menisci from the osteoarthritis group.
Conclusions:
Our results show a decreased cell population, with low COMP and altered matrix organization in osteoarthritis menisci that suggest an altered meniscal scaffold and potential impairment of meniscal function. These meniscal changes may be associated with the development of knee osteoarthritis.
