Contribution of calcium-containing crystals to cartilage degradation and synovial inflammation in osteoarthritis Liu YZ et al. - Crystals extracted from human osteoarthritic knee cartilage induce the production of proinflammatory and catabolic mediators (NO, MMP-13 and PGE2) in human primary chondrocytes and synoviocytes. Synthetic calcium phosphate and pyrophosphate crystals elicit a similar response in those cells. These findings suggest that these crystals could contribute to cartilage degradation and synovitis in OA. [more...]
