The Degenerative Joint Disease – Morphological Aspects in the Wild Boar

The aim of the study was to outline some data about the morphology of the pathological wild boar articular cartilage. The study was carried out on articular cartilage samples from wild boar femoral head and condyles, 1 - 10 years old. The samples were processed and stained by usual histological techniques. The samples examination revealed different stages of articular cartilage injury and various morphological aspects that suggest the degenerative joint disease (DJD) occurrence. The chondrocyte clones, the extracellular matrix alteration, the cartilage fissures, the cartilage erosions and the subchondral bone exposure were the observed morphopathological aspects. These aspects are the specific pathological lesions for DJD, as described in the specialized literature for other species.