Synthetic Lubricants Can Inhibit the Development of Osteoarthritis in a Guinea-pigmodel

+ Clarke, M T; + Lee, P T H; + Rushton, N. + University of Cambridge, England. Introduction Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition of synovial joints involving the destruction of articular hyaline cartilage. In the 1970’s, ‘viscosupplementation’ with hyaluronan was proposed as a potential treatment for OA with the idea that it would improve joint lubrication. However, despite studies showing its ability to reduce pain, the fact that the resident time within a joint (48 hours) is much less than its clinical effect (often several months) along with pharmacological effects on chondroctyes and synoviocytes has confirmed that injected hyaluronan acts as a pharmaceutical rather than as a lubricant as originally thought [1,2]. For this reason, the effects of artificially lubricating an arthritic joint have not previously been adequately investigated. This study examines the effect of injecting an inert, synthetic lubricant on the development of OA in a surgically induced model of osteoarthritis in the adult guinea pig [3]. Our initial hypothesis was that totally synthetic, highly inert, perfluoroalkylethers (PFAE) with appropriate viscosities (3,000-30,000 centistokes) could perform optimally as mechanical joint lubricants to prevent OA. These nonimmunogenic long chain polymers are based on inert fluorine polymer chemistry and contain only carbon, oxygen and fluorine in their molecule and are highly resistant to all forms of chemical interaction.