Az. Damyanovich et al., H-1 NMR investigation of changes in the metabolic profile of synovial fluid in bilateral canine osteoarthritis with unilateral joint denervation, OSTEO CART, 7(2), 1999, pp. 165-172
Objective: High resolution H-1-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques
have been used to compare the effects of unilateral knee-joint denervation
on the biochemical profiles of synovial fluid in a bilateral canine model o
f osteoarthritis.
Method: Paired synovial fluid samples were obtained from seven dogs all of
which had previously undergone bilateral anterior cruciate ligament transec
tion, unilateral knee denervation and contralateral sham nerve exposure. Al
l synovial fluid samples were then analyzed using 500 MHz H-1-CPMG spin-ech
o NMR Spectroscopy to assess differences in endogenous metabolite levels be
tween the paired fluids.
Results: The results indicate statistically significant increases in glycer
ol, hydroxybutyrate, glutamine/glutamate, creatinine/creatine, acetate and
N-acetyl-glycoprotein concentrations in synovial fluids from denervated wit
h respect to control knees. Furthermore, significant trends towards elevate
d lactate, alanine and pyruvate levels in the denervated knee fluids are co
nsistent with our previous findings comparing NMR spectroscopy metabolic pr
ofiles of normal and osteoarthritic canine synovial fluids.
Conclusion: This study lends support to the principle of neurogenic acceler
ation of OA in that the observed differences in metabolite concentrations f
ound in the denervated knee fluids seem to correlate with metabolic changes
resulting from aggravation of the OA process caused by joint denervation.