الفهرس 
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Abstract
Summary : The knee joint is the largest and most complicated joint in the body. The articulating surfaces of bones of the knee are all coated with hyaline articular cartilage. The function of the articular cartilage is to absorb shock, facilitate motion and decrease the stress occurring during joint movement, thus protects the subchondral bone from damage. Arthritis is the most common joint disorder, characterized by degeneration of the articular cartilage with subsequent joint disability. This work was undertaken to investigate the structural changes in the hyaline articular cartilage of the knee joint in an animal model of arthritis induced by complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) in adult male albino rats, and to assess the therapeutic effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) intra-articular transplantation through a histological and an immunohistochemical study. Ninety four adult male albino rats (100 days old, weighing approximately 150-200 gm) were used in this study. They were randomly divided into groups. group 0 (donor group) included 10 rats which were used to provide the BM-MSCs. group I (control group) included 36 rats divided equally into group Ia which was not injected with any chemicals and group Ib which was injected once intra-articularly with the suspension media of the stem cells [phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)] in a dose of 60 μL in the right knee joint after 2 weeks from the onset of the experiment. group II (arthritis group) included 24 rats. Arthritis was induced unilaterally by a single intra-articular injection of 125 μl of CFA in the right knee joint of each rat. group III (stem cell treated arthritis group) included 24 rats. Arthritis was induced as in group II. Two weeks after the induction of arthritis, each animal was injected intra-articularly with a single dose of 1 × 106 BM-MSCs suspended in 60 μl phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) in the right knee joint. Knee joint samples were collected after 2, 6 and 10 weeks from the onset of the experiment. Samples were dissected and prepared for histological and immunohistochemical study by the light microscope. Sections were stained with ; hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain for routine histological examination, Safranin O fast green stain to determine proteoglycan content in articular cartilage and Masson’s trichrome stain for the demonstration of collagen fibers in articular cartilage. In the immunohistochemical study, sections were stained with anti-MMP9 antibody to assess articular cartilage matrix degradation. Statistical analysis was done on; thickness (µm) of hyaline articular cartilage covering the central part of femoral condyle and tibial plateau, percentage (%) of the area of collagen stained with Masson’s trichrome stain in the hyaline articular cartilage covering femoral condyle, percentage (%) of the area of proteoglycans stained with Safranin O fast green stain in the hyaline articular cartilage covering femoral condyle and integrated density of MMP9 immune staining in the hyaline articular cartilage covering femoral condyle. * Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) induced a progressive time dependent model of arthritis in the knee joint of adult male albino rats that can be predictive in testing the efficacy of novel anti- arthritic compounds. * Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) attenuated the CFA induced cartilage degeneration suggesting that BM-MSCs can be used as a new therapeutic paradigm for arthritis in knee joint.