The morphofunctional characteristic of the articular cartilage of femoral lateral condyle in the process of canine leg lengthening

Leg lengthening was performed during 28 days with 1 mm daily rate for 60 times (autodistraction) in series 1 and for 8 times (manual manipulations)- in series 2. Morphological and morphometric studies of articular cartilage were made. It was established that the similar changes occurred in the articular cartilage of the dogs in both series: there was revealed decrease of the cartilage height at the end of distraction as well as disorganization of the intercellular substance in the superficial zone, decrease of the volume and numerical density of chondrocytes, increase of the proliferative activity of the remaining cells. The decrease of the cartilage height and the presence of the foci of fibration visualization were noted in both series in the period of fixation and the tendency was revealed towards increase of the numerical, volume density of cells and that of proliferating chondrocyte pool. The intensity of destructive-and-reparative processes was more marked in case of manual manipulations. The restoration of the articular cartilage structure was observed in a month after the device removal. The studies made allowed to determine the general regularities of the articular cartilage morphofunctional condition in both series during leg lengthening and they demonstrated autodistraction use to be more sparing for the articular cartilage.