Osteoarthritis: Trends and clinical implications in the standardization of a pathological induction protocol in rats using a single dose of monosodium iodoacetate.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease that causes progressive erosion of articular cartilage. Although radiographic imaging, histological and behavioral testing are widely used in preclinical research, few studies have systematically examined their interdependence. Induce OA using a single dose of MIA and to monitor the progression of joint damage over the course of 28 days, associating changes in clinical tests with radiographic and histological images. For that we evaluated the animals through clinical and radiological examinations in the 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days and, after the end of each group period, the animals were euthanized, the joints being removed for histopathological analysis. Statistical analyzes employed for repeated measurements on outcome variables, ensuring methodological rigor with blinded assessors. We observe that a single dose of MIA in the rats had its peak of articular cartilage destruction on the 14th day of induction, as proven by clinical tests and radiographic and histological images. These findings suggest that a single-dose MIA induction model can be developed with high reproducibility and precision in an efficient experimental timeframe, which is valuable for future research assessing the therapeutic efficacy of potential agents for OA treatment. Statistical analyses employed analysis of variance with post hoc testing, ensuring methodological rigor with blinded evaluators.