The Evaluation of Knee Pain and Degenerative Changes at the Tissue, Cellular and Molecular Levels in a Rat Model of Post-Traumatic Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose: Several experimental animal models have been developed for human osteoarthritis (OA) and used to study the preclinical efficacy of disease and symptom modifying OA drug candidates in various species. These animal models have been characterized and the preclinical efficacy of OA drug candidates have been studied by using various microscopic scoring systems and joint pain assessments. The histopathology initiative of Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) presented recommendations for histological OA assessment in different species in order to standardize the histopathological evaluation of OA in these animal models.