Intra-articular hyaluronic acid treatment of knee osteoarthritis in rats investigated by quantitative T2 measurements

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a popular disease characterized by the degradation of cartilage, pain, and inflammation, which may lead to increased disability [1]. Intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (HA) has become a common treatment for knee OA [2]. HA is part of the substance of the synovial fluid and cartilage, and is associated with the viscoelastic properties of synovial fluid. Although the mechanism of intra-articular injection of HA for the treatment of pain with knee OA is currently unknown, several studies demonstrate the potential of HA treatment to reduce the pain from OA [3, 4]. On the other hand, the measurement of T2 relaxation time has gradually become a useful quantitative method to evaluate the degradation of knee cartilage. As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the HA treatment and articular cartilage T2 in a rat model of OA by MR quantitative measurements.