Effect of Platelet-rich Plasma on Mankin Scoring in Chemically-induced Animal Model of Osteoarthritis

Objective: To evaluate the effects of platelet-rich plasma injection on histological changes of osteoarthritis using the modified Mankin score in monoiodoacetate-induced rat knee model. Study Design: Laboratory-based experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anatomy, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi and National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad from March to May 2018. Methodology: Thirty-two pathogen-free male rats aged 3-4 months were selected and divided into two groups with 8 and 24 animals, respectively. Groups A was used as control. Experimental group B was further subgrouped as B1, B2 and B3 with 8 animals, in each subgroup. Monoiodoacetate solution was injected into the articular cavity of the right knee joint of all the animals in group B. Both the control (A) and experimental group B1 were sacrificed after 2 weeks of MIA injection, for observing the histological changes in the articular cartilage. Group B2 received a single injection of platelet rich plasma (PRP) while group B3 was reared as such. Both groups were sacrificed after 4 weeks of intra-articular administration of PRP. Articular cartilage was collected, processed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and toludine blue (T.B). Routine histological study was done and Mankin score was calculated to determine the grade of arthritis. SPSS Version 21 was used for the statistical analysis and p-value was considered significant at the cut-off value of 0.05. Results: The mean Mankin score of group B3 (9.37) was significantly higher than that of group B2 (7.37, p=0.003). Conclusion: Platelet-rich plasma treatment controls the histological changes of chemically-induced osteoarthritis in rat knee.