THE APPLICATION OF EXPERIMENTAL MODELING TO THE STUDY OF THE OSTEOARTHROSIS PATHOGENESIS (review)

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is chronic degenerative-inflammatory disease of the joints accompanied by destruction of the articular cartilage and leads to disruption of joint function and at later stages – to the appearance of contractures, muscular atrophy and skeletal deformities. The main clinical manifestation of osteoarthritis is chronic pain of varying intensity and limitation of joint mobility, which significantly worsens the quality of life of patients. Modern research points to the multifactorial nature of the osteoarthritis development. With the development of the disease, significant changes occur at all levels of the organization, including changes in molecular processes in the cartilage, accompanied by disturbances in its structure and functional properties, as well as violations of the regulation of the synthesis of cartilage matrix components by chondrocytes. The study of the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis was the basis for the development of new drugs. A precondition is a pre-clinical trial involving in vitro and in vivo studies on model animals and / or cell cultures. Therefore adequate experimental models are needed. Currently, there is no consensus in the world on the most appropriate universal model of osteoarthritis, since each model has its own mechanisms for inducing a common degenerative process and limits of its applicability. The problem of reliability of alternative modeling, efficacy, bioequivalence or toxicity of substances for humans requires their full validation and qualitative verification, using animal models. Toughening ethical norms and banning preclinical studies in animals stimulates the development of in vitro models. There are international documents describing experiments with animals. It is called «International recommendations on biomedical research with animals» and is developed by international medical scientific societies (CIOMS). One thesis reduced the use of experimental animals and substitution to mathematic models and in vitro biological systems. The purpose of this review is a comparative description of experimental models, in vivo and in vitro, used to study pathological processes in osteoarthritis and the limits of their applicability.

Keywords

• osteoarthrosis
• articular cartilage
• experimental modeling
• in vivo models
• in vitro models
• cell culture