[On the use of type I tropocollagen for local injection therapy of spine, upper and lower extremity disorders].

A meeting of Interdisciplinary Expert Panel with leading specialists in the field of orthopedics/traumatology, surgery, rheumatology, and neurology was held in Moscow on February 10, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the current status of local injection therapy (LIT) in Russia and the rationale behind the use of collagen-based products for various musculoskeletal disorders. The experts considered the following issues: (1) General contraindications to the use of medical products based on tropocollagen as well as an algorithm for actions in case of adverse events; (2) Guidelines regarding LIT in general and LIT using tropocollagen in particular, including in combination with other LIT products; (3) Particular indications and approaches to the treatment of patients with abnormal changes in appendicular joints and spine with damage to both intra-articular structures and periarticular soft tissue.

[Structure of the articular cartilage in the middle aged]. / Struktura sustavnogo khriashcha u lits pozhilogo vozrasta.

In persons 17-83 years of age having no articular disorders 39 samples of the patellar articular cartilage, the articulated surface and the femoral head have been studied histochemically, histometrically and electron microscopically. Age involution of the articular cartilage is revealed after 40 years of age as a progressive decrease in chondrocytes density in the superficial and (to a less degree) in the intermediate zones. This is accompanied with a decreasing number of 3- and 4-cellular lacunae and with an increasing number of unicellular and hollow lacunae. In some chondrocytes certain distrophic and necrotic changes are revealed. In the articular matrix the zone with the minimal content of glycosaminoglycans becomes thicker and keratansulfate content in the territorial matrix of the cartilage deep zone grows large.