Topographic and zonal distribution of tenascin in human articular cartilage from femoral heads: normal versus mild and severe osteoarthritis.

Objective: The extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin (TN) is upregulated in articular cartilage with severe osteoarthritis (OA). This study gives a detailed description of TN expression in areas of articular cartilage from femoral heads with mild OA showing structural lesions and in structurally normal areas of the same femoral heads compared with normal cartilage and cartilage with severe OA.

Methods: Immunohistochemical evaluation was performed on cryosections stained with antibodies against TN. Sections were selected as follows: from each macroscopically normal femoral head (n=6) a normal central and peripheral biopsy; from each femoral head with macroscopically mild OA (n=8) a central biopsy that showed structural lesions and a peripheral normal biopsy; from each femoral head with severe OA (n=9) a central and a peripheral biopsy with structural lesions. Central biopsies represent load bearing areas, whereas peripheral biopsies are non-load bearing.

Results: Central cartilage with mild OA contains significantly higher levels of TN in the superficial zone than structurally normal, peripheral cartilage from the same femoral heads. Normal cartilage and cartilage with severe OA do not display this topographic variation. Central cartilage with mild OA shows significantly higher levels of TN than normal, central cartilage. Peripheral, normal cartilage with mild OA shows significantly less TN than peripheral cartilage with severe OA.

Conclusions: In femoral heads with mild OA, TN is accumulated in areas displaying structural damage. This proposes mild OA to be a localized disorder. Extreme caution is necessary for sampling of articular cartilage, especially from joints with mild OA.