A Tissue & Experimental Modeling Core will coordinate specialized tissue preparations and animal models,and will serve Projects 1, 2, and 3 of the University of Iowa CORT. All animal modeling studies will bemanaged by this Core, to maximize the efficiency in time, cost, and effort. This Core will provide two survivalanimal models: a porcine knee model of blunt impaction cartilage injury (the associated studies are proposedin Projects 1, 2, and 3), and a rabbit knee model of blunt impaction with joint instability (forProject 2).Surgical insults for these models will be applied arthroscopically, to minimize potential effects of surgicalinvasion itself. Impaction insults will be performed using a custom-designed device that allows delivery of acompressive force pulse of prescribed energy magnitude. The force transmission during the impaction will bemonitored, allowing accurate measurement of energy absorption, the peak cartilage stress level, and the rateof cartilage stress elevation. All tissue collection from experimental animals, including cartilage and serumsamples, and the processing and storing of these samples, will also be managed by this Core. Cartilagesample preparations for ex vivo studies in Projects 1, 2, and 3, namely the modeling of blunt impactioncartilage damage associated with intraarticular fractures or bone bruises, will also be provided by this Core.Another objective of this Core is to facilitate preparation for future studies. To this end, this Core aims to pilotan animal model of human intraarticular fracture that naturally develops post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA).This model will allow not only longitudinal study of the disease progression processes of PTOA secondary tointraarticular fractures, but will also allow future studies of the organ-level therapeutic effects of newtreatment paradigms, including bio-pharmaceutical interventions that will be studied in Projects 1 and 2. Aporcine model of knee instability will also be piloted. In addition to these tasks, this Core will collect and storeserum samples from all patients in Projects 3 and 4, to enable future studies of possible genetic risk factorsfor post-traumatic OA in humans.
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