Bone
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic joint disease characterized by cartilage destruction, subchondral bone sclerosis, and osteophyte formation. Subchondral bone stiffness has been proposed to initiate and/or contribute to cartilage deterioration in OA. The purpose of this study was to characterize subchondral bone remodeling, cartilage damage, and osteophytosis during the disease progression in two models of surgically induced OA. ⋯ In summary, the two surgically induced rat OA models share many characteristics seen in human and other animal models of OA, including progressive articular cartilage degradation, subchondral bone sclerosis, and osteophyte formation. Moreover, increased subchondral bone resorption is associated with early development of cartilage lesions, which precedes significant cartilage thinning and subchondral bone sclerosis. Together, these findings support a role for bone remodeling in OA pathogenesis and suggest that these rat models are suitable for evaluating bone resorption inhibitors as potential disease-modifying pharmaco-therapies.