METHOD OF HISTOMORPHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF GLYCOSAMINOGLYCANS IN ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE

A method of image analysis]las been developed for use in the semiquant itative histomorphometric assessment of glycosaminoglycans in articula r cartilage stained with safranin O. The reliability of the meth odolo gy is reported along with its application to the assessment of articul ar cartilage in a model of osteoarthritis. i.e., transection of the an terior cruciate ligament in rabbits. With this system, specimens of no rmal and osteoarthritic articular cartilage were assessed histomorphom etrically for;he following parameters: total cartilage area, percentag e of safranin O stained area, mean gray scale (average stain intensity ), and gray scale index (the relative total amount of glycosaminoglyca ns). Reproducibility was established for 12 specimens of normal cartil age and found to have a SD of less than 8% of the mean for each parame ter that was measured. Image analysis of osteoarthritic cartilage reve aled each of the parameters, except for average stain intensity, to be significantly lower than that in control cartilage.