Bone and Joint Institute
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2021
Journal
Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
Volume
11
Issue
15
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.3390/app11157118
Abstract
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a degenerative joint disease, leading to articular cartilage breakdown, osteophyte formation, and synovitis, caused by an initial joint trauma. Pro-inflammatory cytokines increase catabolic activity and may perpetuate inflammation following joint trauma. Interleukin-15 (IL-15), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, is increased in OA patients, although its roles in PTOA pathophysiology are not well characterized. Here, we utilized Il15 deficient rats to examine the role of IL-15 in PTOA pathogenesis in an injury-induced model. OA was surgically induced in Il15 deficient Holtzman Sprague-Dawley rats and control wild-type rats to compare PTOA progression. Semi-quantitative scoring of the articular cartilage, subchondral bone, osteo-phyte size, and synovium was performed by two blinded observers. There was no significant difference between Il15 deficient rats and wild-type rats following PTOA-induction across articular cartilage damage, subchondral bone damage, and osteophyte scoring. Similarly, synovitis scoring across six parameters found no significant difference between genetic variants. Overall, IL-15 does not appear to play a key role in the development of structural changes in this surgically-induced rat model of PTOA.
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Citation of this paper:
Hadzic, E.; Blackler, G.; Dupuis, H.; Renaud, S.J.; Appleton, C.T.; Beier, F. Genetic Deletion of Interleukin-15 Is Not Associated with Major Structural Changes Following Experimental Post-Traumatic Knee Osteoarthritis in Rats. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 7118. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157118