BACKGROUND: Joint instability has long been empirically recognized as a leading risk factor for @entity571 . However, formal mechanistic linkage of instability to @entity571 development has not been established. This study aimed to support a clinically accepted, but heretofore scientifically unproven, concept that the severity and @entity571 development in unstable joints is dependent on the degree of instability. In a survival @entity95 knee model of graded joint instability, the relationship between the magnitude of instability and the intensity of @entity528 was studied at the organ level in vivo. METHODS: Sixty New Zealand White @entity95 received either complete or partial (medial half) transection of the anterior cruciate ligament or sham surgery (control) on the left knee. At the time that the animals were killed at eight or sixteen weeks postoperatively (ten animals for each treatment and/or test-period combination), the experimental knees were subjected to sagittal plane stability measurement, followed by whole-joint cartilage histological evaluation with use of the Mankin score. RESULTS: Sagittal plane instability created in the partial transection group was intermediate between those in the complete transection and sham surgery groups. The partial and complete transection groups exhibited @entity528 on the medial femoral and/or medial tibial surfaces. The average histological score (and standard deviation) for the medial compartment in the partial transection group (2.9    0.9) was again intermediate, significantly higher than for the sham surgery group (1.9    0.8) and significantly lower than for the complete transection group (4.5    2.3). The average histological scores for the medial compartment in the partial transection group correlated significantly with the magnitude of instability, with no threshold effect being evident. The significance level of alpha was set at 0.05 for all tests. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of @entity528 increased continuously with the degree of instability in this survival @entity95 knee model of graded instability.

Instability dependency of XXXX development in a @entity95 model of graded anterior cruciate ligament transection.

@entity528 :: ('MESH:D009410', 'Disease') :: ['cartilage degeneration'] @entity95 :: ('9986', 'Species') :: ['rabbits', 'rabbit'] @entity571 :: ('MESH:D010003', 'Disease') :: ['osteoarthritis', 'rapidity of osteoarthritis']
@entity571 :: (MESH:D010003,Disease) :: ['osteoarthritis']
