Determination of piroxicam from rat articular tissue and plasma based on LC-MS/MS

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis. To manage OA, in general, oral administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is used. Recently, the analgesic and anti-inflammatory efficacy of piroxicam (PX), a long-acting NSAID, by intra-articular (IA) administration in OA was reported, and the possibility that PX is distributed in articular tissues at a certain concentration was raised. Thus, herein, novel LC-MS/MS methods to detect PX in rat articular tissue and plasma are presented. For articular tissue, solvent extraction with acetonitrile for 12 h was employed and a protein precipitation method was used for the preparation of a plasma sample. The developed methods were validated by following the FDA guidelines, and the validated methods were successfully applied to a PK study of IA PX. The present study presents, to our knowledge, the first method of determining a drug in articular tissue. Additionally, the level of PX in articular tissue after IA PX administration was experimentally confirmed for the first time using the present methods. Therefore, the present methods provide a new direction for in vivo evaluation for IA PX formulations and contribute to the development of alternative IA PX formulations with better effects for the treatment of OA.

Human Xenograft Model

Human-SCID grafting is a commonly used technique for the long-term investigation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) explants. To establish a chimeric immunological system in NOD/SCID mice, RA patient-derived pannus tissue from the synovial membrane, articular cartilage, and bone can be transplanted subcutaneously. The same patient-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cell chimerism can be successfully achieved by intraperitoneal engraftment. This xenograft model is able to be used for initial screening of human target-specified biologics.

Sexual dimorphism in articular tissue anatomy - Key to understanding sex differences in osteoarthritis?

OBJECTIVE

Osteoarthritis (OA) prevalence and incidence varies between women and men, but it is unknown whether this follows sex-specific differences in systemic factors (e.g. hormones) and/or differences in pre-morbid joint anatomy. We recognize that classifications of sex within humans cannot be reduced to female/male, but given the lack of literature on non-binary individuals, this review is limited to the sexual dimorphism of articular morphotypes.

METHODS

Based on a Pubmed search using relevant terms, and input from experts, we selected articles based on the authors' judgment of their relevance, interest, originality, and scientific quality; no "hard" bibliometric measures were used to evaluate their quality or importance. Focus was on clinical rather than pre-clinical studies, with most (imaging) data being available for the knee joint.

RESULTS

After introducing "sexual dimorphism", the specific literature on articular morphotypes is reviewed, structured by: radiographic joint space width (JSW), meniscus, ligaments, articular cartilage morphology, articular cartilage composition and deformation, and articular tissue response to treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Sex-specific differences were clearly observed for JSW, meniscus damage, ligament size, and cartilage morphometry (volume, thickness, and surface areas) but not for cartilage composition. Ligament and cartilage measures were smaller in women even after matching for confounders. Taken together, the findings indicate that female (knee) joints may be structurally more vulnerable and at greater risk of OA. The "one size/sex fits all" approach must be abandoned in OA research, and all observational and interventional studies should report their results for sex-specific strata, at least in pre-specified secondary or post-hoc analyses.

Human Xenograft Model

Human-SCID grafting is a commonly used technique for the long-term investigation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) explants. To establish a chimeric immunological system in NOD/SCID mice, RA patient-derived pannus tissue from the synovial membrane, articular cartilage, and bone can be transplanted subcutaneously. Same patient-derived peripheral mononuclear cell chimerism can be successfully achieved by intraperitoneal engraftment. This xenograft model is able to be used for the initial screening of human target-specified biologics.