# ARTICULAR CARTILAGE HEALING AND PASSIVE MOTION

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 1987 · $112,767

## Abstract

Disorders of articular cartilage disable more people than any other group
of musculoskeletal problems.  Any treatment that improves repair of
articular cartilage would be invaluable.  Reports that continuous passive
motion (CPM) promotes healing of 1 mm diameter full thickness defects in
rabbit articular cartilage have stimulated use of CPM to promote
chondrogenesis in humans.  However, the value of CPM in treatment of
defects that closely resemble clinical problems in humans has not been
demonstrated and our preliminary studies did not show a positive effect of
PM in healing three types of 4 mm diameter defects in primate articular
cartilage.

The aims of this investigation are to:  1) verify previous reports that CPM
facilitates cartilage healing; and to determine:  2) if defect size affects
the healing of articular cartilage treated with CPM; 3) if the healing
induced by CPM (24 hours of PM per day) differs from the healing induced
intermittent passive motion, IPM, (16 hours of PM per day); and 4) if
healing of articular defects treated with PM or casting is the same in
rabbits and cynomolgus monkeys whose knees more closely resemble human
knees.

To confirm previous reports, assess the importance of defect size, and
compare CPM and IPM, 1 mm and 3.2 mm diameter full thickness defects will
be made in rabbit weight bearing femoral articular surfaces and treated
with CPM, IPM or casting.  To evaluate the effects of PM in joints that
more closely resemble human knees, 1 mm diameter and 3.2 mm diameter drill
hole defects will be made in the articular surfaces of primates and treated
with cast immobilization or IPM and compared with the results of the rabbit
experiments.  Cartilage repair will be evaluated by a new
morphologic-histochemical index of cartilage repair tested for reliability
and based on the sequence of events in cartilage injury and repair.  The
validity of the index will be assessed by comparing the index values with
the biochemical composition of the repair cartilage.

Information gained from this study will enhance our understanding of the
role of PM in the healing of articular defects that more closely resemble
clinically significant defects in humans.  If this study shows that PM
facilitates articular cartilage healing, proposals will be developed to
study the effect of PM in other types of articular cartilage defects and in
animal models of osteoarthritis and to explore the basic mechanism of the
PM effect on chondrogenesis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3156947
- **Project number:** 5R01AR034758-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** Z1H9VJS8NG16
- **Principal Investigator:** JOSEPH A. BUCKWALTER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1987
- **Award amount:** $112,767
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1985-08-01 → 1989-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3156947

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3156947, ARTICULAR CARTILAGE HEALING AND PASSIVE MOTION (5R01AR034758-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3156947. Licensed CC0.

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