Microstructural and cellular characterisation of the subchondral trabecular bone in human knee and hip osteoarthritis using synchrotron tomography

It is unclear if different factors influence osteoarthritis (OA) progression and degenerative changes characterising OA disease in hip and knee. We investigated the difference between hip OA and knee OA at the subchondral bone (SCB) tissue and cellular level, relative to the degree of cartilage degeneration. Bone samples were collected from 11 patients (aged 70.4 ± 10.7years) undergoing knee arthroplasty and 8 patients (aged 62.3 ± 13.4years) undergoing hip arthroplasty surgery. Trabecular bone microstructure, osteocyte-lacunar network, and bone matrix vascularity were evaluated using synchrotron micro-CT imaging. Additionally, osteocyte density, viability, and connectivity were determined histologically. The associations between severe cartilage degeneration and increase of bone volume fraction (%) [− 8.7, 95% CI (−14.1, −3.4)], trabecular number (#/mm) [− 1.5, 95% CI (−0.8, −2.3)], osteocyte lacunar density (#/mm3) [4714.9; 95% CI (2079.1, 7350.6)] and decrease of trabecular separation (mm) [− 0.07, 95% CI (0.02, 0.1)] were found in both knee and hip OA. When compared to knee OA, hip OA was characterised by larger (µm3) but less spheric osteocyte lacunae [47.3; 95% CI (11.2, 83.4), − 0.04; 95% CI (−0.06, −0.02), respectively], lower vascular canal density (#/mm3) [− 22.8; 95% CI (−35.4, −10.3)], lower osteocyte cell density (#/mm2) [− 84.2; 95% CI (−102.5, −67.4)], and less senescent (#/mm2) but more apoptotic osteocytes (%) [− 2.4; 95% CI (−3.6, −1.2), 24.9; 95% CI (17.7, 32.1)], respectively. SCB from hip OA and knee OA exhibits different characteristics at the tissue and cellular levels, suggesting different mechanisms of OA progression in different joints.