Structural and metabolic changes in articular cartilage induced by iodoacetate.

The chemically induced injury to articular cartilage, caused by two successive intra-articular injections of sodium iodoacetate, has been used in studies on the effects of anti-inflammatory and of potentially chondroprotective agents. It has been assumed that the injurious effects are caused by inhibition of the glycolytic pathway. In the present study this inhibition has been shown to be greater than expected from in vitro studies, and to influence equally other oxidative pathways. However, the response is clearly not a simple one in that some of the surface chondrocytes, and synovial lining cells in close proximity to the cartilage, show virtually no inhibition.