Multimodal imaging demonstrates concomitant changes in bone and cartilage after destabilisation of the medial meniscus and increased joint laxity

Abstract

Objective: Alterations in joint mechanics can cause osteoarthritis, which results in degeneration of both cartilage and bone tissue. The objective of this work is to measure changes in the laxity of the mouse knee joint after destabilisation of the medial meniscus (DMM) and to visualise and quantify the resulting three-dimensional changes in the bone and cartilage. Methods: Skeletally mature C57Bl6 male mice underwent DMM surgery in the right leg. Animals were sacrificed immediately 0 weeks (n = 15), 4 weeks (n = 11) or 8 weeks (n = 12) after surgery. For the 0-week group, the anterior-posterior (AP) and varus-valgus laxity of the DMM limb were compared to the contralateral limb. For 4 and 8..