Vascular deprivation‐induced necrosis of the femoral head of the rat. An experimental model of avascular osteonecrosis in the skeletally immature individual or Legg‐Perthes disease

• Published in: International journal of experimental pathology Vol. 79; no. 3; pp. 173 - 181
• Main Authors: NORMAN, D, REIS, D, ZINMAN, C, MISSELEVICH, I, BOSS, J. H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, U.K. and Cambridge, USA Blackwell Publishers 01-06-1998; Blackwell Science; Blackwell Publishing
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Remodeling; Cartilage, Articular - pathology; degeneration of the articular cartilage; Disease Models, Animal; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; experimental model; Female; femoral head; Femur Head - blood supply; Femur Head Necrosis - etiology; Femur Head Necrosis - pathology; Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease - etiology; Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease - pathology; Medical sciences; Osteonecrosis; Rats; Regional Blood Flow; Time Factors; Tropical medicine; Vascular bone diseases; Animal model; Deprivation; Rat; Femoral head; Pathogenesis; Aseptic osteonecrosis; Rodentia; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Supply; Bone disease; Blood; Pathology; Cartilage; Vertebrata; Experimental disease; Mammalia; Animal; Degeneration
• ISSN: 0959-9673; 1365-2613
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2613.1998.00063.x

The blood supply of rats' femoral heads was severed by cutting the ligamentum teres and stripping the periostium. Histologically, necrosis of the marrow was apparent on the 2nd postoperative day, necrosis of the bone on the 5th postoperative day and fibrous ingrowth on the 7th postoperative day. During the following 5 weeks, progressive resorption of the intertrabecular necrotic debris and necrotic bony trabeculae and subchondral bone plate and, concurrently, appositional and intramembranous new bone formation resulted in remodeling of the femoral heads. In 2 of 7 femoral heads, replacement of the necrotic bone by viable bone was complete at the 42‐day postoperative interval. Also, the articular cartilage of the deformed and flattened femoral heads was undergoing degenerative changes. Reduplicating the pathogenically inferred clinical settings of blood supply deprivation, it is proposed that this model, in a small laboratory animal, satisfies the requirements sought for preclinical studies of treatment modalities of avascular osteonecrosis in man.