High resolution 1H-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 of osteoarthritis.
Paired synovial fluid samples were obtained from seven dogs all of which had previously undergone bilateral anterior cruciate ligament transection, unilateral knee denervation and contralateral sham nerve exposure. All synovial fluid samples were then analyzed using 500 MHz 1H-CPMG spin-echo NMR Spectroscopy to assess differences in endogenous metabolite levels between the paired fluids.
The results indicate statistically significant increases in glycerol, hydroxybutyrate, glutamine/glutamate, creatinine/creatine, acetate and N-acetyl-glycoprotein concentrations in synovial fluids from denervated with respect to control knees. Furthermore, significant trends towards elevated lactate, alanine and pyruvate levels in the denervated knee fluids are consistent with our previous findings comparing NMR spectroscopy metabolic profiles of normal and osteoarthritic canine synovial fluids.
This study lends support to the principle of neurogenic acceleration of OA in that the observed differences in metabolite concentrations found in the denervated knee fluids seem to correlate with metabolic changes resulting from aggravation of the OA process caused by joint denervation.