Ultrastructural analysis of rat articular cartilage following treatment with dexamethasone and glycosaminoglycan-peptide complex.

This ultrastructural study describes a stereological analysis of rat articular cartilage, with and without exposure to dexamethasone and a chondroprotective drug used in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Normal rat cartilage was found to contain 27.6 x 10(4) chondrocytes/mm3 which occupied approximately 10% of the cartilage tissue, and the organelle content of each chondrocyte was calculated to be about 20% of the cytoplasmic volume. After 3 weeks of treatment with dexamethasone the chondrocytic volume was increased by 23% with a proportionate increase in the cellular volume of the whole cartilage, and in addition the organelle content was significantly reduced to about half that of the control chondrocytes. By contrast the administration of GP-C (RUMALON) to dexamethasone-treated animals reduced these steroid effects. No significant change was seen in the total chondrocyte numbers with either of the treatments. Whereas dexamethasone inhibits chondrocyte metabolism and produces concomitant ultrastructural changes, GP-C was found to counteract these effects, a result which supports the contention that GP-C helps to preserve chondrocyte function.