Experimentally induced corticosteroid arthropathy

Abstract

Abstract Intraarticular injections of triamcinolone acetonide resulted in deleterious changes in living rabbit articular knee cartilage. These changes were characterized by an increased frequency of chondrocyte nuclear degeneration and prominent cyst formation as compared with control animals. Degenerative changes were localized to the cartilage of the medial tibial plateau. This localization may be related to the different histologic pattern seen in this cartilage surface as compared to other areas of the knee. The correlation between certain pre‐existing patterns of cartilage histology and susceptibility to degenerative change may provide a clue to the localization of degenerative joint disease in humans.