CLINICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF LOW LEVEL LASER ON REGENERATION OF HIP JOINT CARTILAGE IN RABBIT

Treating articular cartilage in dogs is a challenge in the contemporary orthopedics of small animals. Currently application of Low Level Laser being advocated for various orthopedics disorders that is why its effect being evaluated in experimentally induced defect in hip joint. The experiment was conducted on 24 adult male rabbits which were divided into two groups of (control & experimental) with 12 rabbits each. Effective anesthesia was induced using combination of acepromazine, ketamine and xylazine. After exposure and subluxation of right femoral head, the maximum accessible cartilage was denuded up to subchondral bone using dental bit in each rabbit. No treatment was given to control group, whereas experimental one was subjected to Low Level Laser Therapy daily for 1 minutes diode laser 630 nm and 2 minutes of infrared with 890 nm for 14 days daily, then further they were subdivided into 3 subgroup of 4 rabbits each with duration of 1 ,2 and 3 months. There was no trace of firbrocartilage or cartilage formation in control group samples even up to end of observation period .There was remarkable connective tissue with trace of chondrocytes beneath that which were located in the large lacunae having different type of isogenic during one month period in experimental group.. Scattered collagen fibers between chondrocyte cells was seen which was not enough to fill the defect in one month period, whereas drastic changes was noticed in two and three months duration with full coverage of defect area with newly formed cartilage Davood Sharifi Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran-Iran e-mail: sharifid@yahoo.com