Kendra Reed: Learning about Osteoarthritis BACK

Published by AFAR

It was a beautiful Monday morning today in San Diego, California. I was able to get a lot of work done today. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease that significantly impacts the quality of life of approximately 48 million people in the US and unfortunately most of this population is of geriatric age. I have learned that mitochondria plays a central role in many theories of cellular aging, therefore I will be looking at mitochondria and aging as it relates to osteoarthritis. This morning upon my arrival to the lab, I had two papers waiting for me. The first suggested recommendations for histological assessments of osteoarthritis in mice, and the other discussed surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus model of OA. My mentor reminded me the summer is not long enough for me to use the strain of aging mice… I think you can guess what he suggested next. So today I met the mice I would be surgically inducing osteoarthritis in. After the initial shock of seeing the live mouse I would work with, I felt a bit calmer to learn he would be anesthetized for surgery. After meeting the mice, we then began to go over the anatomy of the mouse knee. It is practically identical to the human knee, just 50x smaller! Now that’s the true meaning of microscopic surgery!

After my encounter with the mice, lunch was definitely out of the question. So over the break I learned how to histologically grade mouse knee samples using a modification from Chambers system—a skill that will surely come in handy. My mentor pointed out key observations, such as identifying the tide/water mark, loss of proteoglycan staining, and fibrillations on the articular surface. When I expressed I was getting the hang of grading, he replied “Great! I’ll give you some slides to practice on.” He gave me 362 slides to be exact—practice makes perfect! Much later that day, we spoke a little more about OA being such a disabling disease. There are currently no cures or even disease-modifying osteoarthritic drugs. Current treatments include intra articular injections, anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relievers, but nothing to even slow down the progression of this disease. Luckily I am researching with one of the trailblazers in the field and I’m looking forward to all the research and techniques I will learn.

Kendra Reed
University of South Alabama College of Medicine

 

"Diary of an MSTAR Student" follows scholars in the 2011 Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, highlighting their summer experiences. As they continue their path of research, training and clinical practice, read their daily thoughts at www.afar.org/mstarblog. New diary entries are posted every day, so check back soon.