Figure 3 Conclusions: In normal human femoral condyles, the SBP is comprised of the condensation of approximately two horizontal trabeculae after which there are many communicating marrow spaces. This represents little or no barrier to the ingress of marrow constituents after a breach in the subchondral bone. In osteoarthritis the sclerotic SBP presents a substantial barrier to marrow stimulation procedures (data not shown). By contrast, all animals have subchondral bone plates that are thicker, more mineralized and have more bone volume compared to similar human tissue. Thus, these are not valid models of the normal human SBP, but instead could be considered an approximation of sclerotic human subchondral bone. These data explain why the response to injury or microfracture in large species such as the horse may underestimate human reparative capacity.
Full Text via ClinicalKey