Automated assessment of bone changes in cross-sectional micro-CT studies of murine experimental osteoarthritis

摘要: Objective The degradation of articular cartilage, which characterises osteoarthritis (OA), is usually paired with excessive bone remodelling, including subchondral sclerosis, cysts, and osteophyte formation. Experimental models OA are widely used to investigate pathogenesis, yet few validated methodologies for assessing periarticular morphology exist quantitative measurements limited by manual segmentation micro-CT scans. The aim this work was chart the temporal changes in murine novel, automated methods. Methods OA induced destabilisation medial meniscus (DMM) 10-week old male mice disease assessed cross-sectionally from 1- 20-weeks post-surgery. A novel approach developed automatically segment compartments into plate trabecular scans tibial epiphyses. Osteophyte volume, as shape differences using 3D image registration, measuring total epiphyseal volume performed. Results Significant linear volumetric structural modifications osteophytes were measured 4-weeks post-surgery showed progressive at all time points; 20 weeks, thickness increased 160±19.5 μm grew 0.124±0.028 μm3. Excellent agreement found when compared assessments. Conclusion Our methods rapid, quantitative, highly accurate, promise be a useful tool future preclinical studies progression treatment. current approaches specifically cross-sectional but could applied longitudinal studies.