Mature and activated osteoclasts exist in the synovium of rapidly destructive coxarthrosis.

We compared histological and functional findings in rapidly destructive coxarthrosis (RDC) and slowly progressive osteoarthritis (OA) to investigate whether osteoclasts contribute to the extensive bone destruction observed in RDC. A histological analysis of tissue specimens from the synovium obtained from 10 cases of RDC and 40 cases with OA of the hip was performed after staining for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP). The cells isolated from these tissue specimens from the synovium were cultured for 24 h, and the numbers of TRAP-positive giant cells were counted. Thereafter, we performed a resorption pit formation assay by isolated cells cultured on dentine slices for 7 days. The number of TRAP-positive multinuclear giant cells present in the synovial membrane obtained from RDC patients was significantly larger than that obtained from OA patients. Large lacunar resorption pits were only seen on the dentin slices in a culture of isolated cells from RDC patients without any stimulators. This is the first report, to our knowledge, to reveal that mature and activated osteoclasts exist only in the synovium of RDC and not in the OA synovium. This result might suggest that the underlying mechanism of RDC is therefore associated with osteoclastogenesis in the synovium.