Interleukin-17 Can Induce Osteoarthritis in Rabbit Knee Joints Similar to Hulth’s Method

Figure 1

At all 5 time points, the articular cartilage in the control group displayed a glossy and uninterrupted surface, with no osteophyte formation. At 72 h and 1 week, similar to the control group, the 4 experimental groups exhibited no signs of cartilage degeneration. At 3 weeks, the Hulth group and the 10-ng and 50-ng groups exhibited a dim and rough surface, whereas the cartilage in the 1-ng group exhibited reduced lustre and transparency. At 6 weeks and 12 weeks after operation, the femoral condyles of the Hulth group, the 10-ng IL-17 group, and the 50-ng IL-17 group showed characteristics of osteoarthritis, while only small-scale cartilage injuries were seen in the 1-ng group. Red arrows indicate osteophytes, and green arrows indicate cartilage injury.