Cartilage integrity and proteoglycan turnover are comparable in canine experimentally induced and human joint degeneration

The value of experimental models of osteoarthritis (OA) largely depends on the ability to translate observations to human OA. Surprisingly, direct comparison of characteristics of human and experimental OA is scarce. In the present study, cartilage integrity and matrix turnover in a canine model of joint degeneration were compared to human clinical OA. In 23 Beagle dogs, joint degeneration was induced in one knee, the contra-lateral knee served as a control. For comparison, human osteoarthritic and healthy knee cartilage were obtained at arthroplasty (n=14) and post-mortem (n=13). Cartilage was analyzed by histology and biochemistry. Values for cartilage integrity and proteoglycan (PG) synthesis showed species specific differences; GAG content of healthy cartilage was 2-fold higher in canine cartilage and PG synthesis even 8-fold. However, the relative decrease in PG content between healthy and OA cartilage was similar for humans and canines (-17% vs. -15%, respectively), as was the histological damage (+7.0 vs. +6.1, respectively) and the increase of PG synthesis (+100% vs. +70%, respectively). Remarkably, the percentage release of total and of newly formed PGs in human and canine controls was similar, as was the increase due to degeneration (+65% vs. +81% and +91% vs. +52%, respectively). Despite differences in control conditions, the observed changes in characteristics of cartilage integrity and matrix turnover are similar in a canine model of joint degeneration and human clinical OA. The canine Groove model shows that its characteristics reflect those of human OA which makes the model appropriate for studying human OA.