Introduction. Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive degenerative
disease which affects meniscal tissue. The aim of this study was to
determine the differences in collagen type I expression in macroscopically unaltered and osteoarthritic menisci, and correlate the
expression with the grade of macroscopic damage, age and body
mass index of patients, preoperative condition of anterior cruciate
ligament, angulation and knee contracture. Material and Methods.
The control group consisted of 10 macroscopically unaltered menisci, while the experimental group had 35 osteoarthritic menisci.
Besides macroscopic grading of meniscal damage, the analysis of
collagen type I expression was determined by immunohistochemical staining with the corresponding antibody using semiquantitative
scale scores and quantitative parameters: intensity of expression and
stained area size. Results. The results of semiquantitative evaluation
showed a statistically significant decrease in collagen type I expression in osteoarthritic menisci, which correlated with an increase in
macroscopic damage grade. The results of quantitative evaluation
did not show a statistically significant decrease in the expression. In
posterior meniscal horns, a more intense collagen type I expression
was seen in the women, as well as a positive correlation of quantitatively evaluated expression with body mass index. Collagen type
I expression in the anterior horns was significantly lower in varus
alignment. Conclusion. In the semiquantitative evaluation, collagen
type I expression in osteoarthritic menisci was significantly lower
compared to macroscopically unchanged menisci. The decrease in
the expression level correlates with the increase in the grade of
macroscopic meniscal damage. There was no statistically significant
difference in the quantitative evaluation of expression.
