Intra - Articular Treatment Of Osteoarthritis Of The Rabbit's Knee Experimental Study Between Hyaluronic Acid And Cortisone

In an effort to compare the effects of hyaluronic acid (HA) and cortisone on the healing of degenerative osteoarthrosis, a rabbit model was used in which a degenerative osteoarthrosis was created in the knee articular cartilage by the inoculation of Staphylococcus Aureus (SA). Thirty-two rabbits were used, and their knee articular cartilages of were inoculated with SA to create degeneration. At the 8th, 10th and 17th days of inoculation, three rabbits were sacrificed for each corresponding day. On the 20th, 23rd and 26th days, HA (group A) and cortisone (group B) were injected into the right knees (RN) of the rabbits. On the 25th and 35th days, six rabbit were sacrificed for each corresponding day (three of them injected with cortisone and the three with HA). On the 50th day, remaining 11 rabbits (six injected with cortisone and five with HA) were sacrificed. The biopsies obtained from eight different regions of the right knee joint were examined for both articular cartilage degeneration and inflammation of the soft tissue around the joint by light microscopy. The results showed that cortisone is effective in the treatment of cartilage degeneration and inflammation early in the course of the septic arthritis whereas the therapeutic effect of HA is higher late in the course of the disease. Further studies are required in order to understand the effectiveness of the combined or consecutive use of these drugs in degenerative osteoarthritis.