Development of a Novel Rat Knee Osteoarthritis Model Induced by Medial Meniscus Extrusion

The medial meniscus extrusion (MME) is associated with increased stress on the knee joint, which leads to cartilage degeneration. To evaluate the etiology of knee osteoarthritis, it is extremely important to create animal models of the disease that more closely resemble actual clinical conditions in terms of symptomatology, molecular biology, and histology. This study aimed to create a clinically relevant model of MME in rats.

Behavioral, molecular biological, and histological changes in the newly developed rat MME model were compared with those in sham and medial meniscus transection and medial collateral ligament transection (MMT) models to examine the characteristics of this model.

In the MME rat model, behavioral evaluation shows abnormalities in gait compared with the other 2 groups, and molecular biological evaluation of the infrapatellar synovia of rats shows that gene expression of inflammatory cytokines, matrix-degrading enzymes, and pain-related nerve growth factor was increased compared with the sham group. Furthermore, histological evaluation reveals that cartilage degeneration was the most severe in the MME group.

The newly developed MME model reproduced the characteristic pathology of MME in clinical practice, such as severe pain, inflammation, and rapid progression of osteoarthritis. The MME model, which might more closely mimic human knee osteoarthritis (OA), could be a useful model for elucidating the pathophysiology and considering therapeutic management for knee OA.