Abstract #3633

Wang Y, Moores S, Ball A, Westwood F, Bowyer J, Heapy C, Pickford R, Tessier J

The study was aimed to evaluate in vivo high-resolution 3D MRI in demonstrating the joint structural changes in rat left knee osteoarthritis induced by meniscal tear, with 10 operated and 5 sham-operated animals. MR scan was carried out 44 days after surgery at 4.7T, using a spoiled multi-echo fat-suppressed 3D GRE sequence. In operated rats MRI demonstrated the meniscus tear, cartilage and bone damage at the medial tibial plateau. In five animals single or multiple high signal areas were observed within the epiphysis of tibia, consistent with cyst signal. Patho-anatomical changes seen on MRI were consistent with histopathological data.