Adding Insult to Injury: synergistic effect of combining risk-factors in models of post-traumatic osteoarthritis

“Synergy” is the interaction of two or more factors to produce a combined outcome greater than the sum of their individual effects. It is interesting to consider synergism in the context of osteoarthritis (OA) as a “whole-joint disease”, and how the combination of individual events or risk-f actors that contribute to OA initiation and/or progression, may have more than just additive effects on joint-wide OA pathology and its systemic symptomatic consequences. This idea is highlighted in an interesting paper by McCulloch et al in the current issue (REF####), where the authors studied the effect of concomitant focal cartilage injury on the severity and progression of post-traumatic (pt)OA joint pathology and pain induced by destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) in mice.
Source: Osteoarthritis and Cartilage - Category: Rheumatology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research