Vet World Vol.18 September-2025 Article - 13
Research Article
Veterinary World, 18(9): 2712-2722
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.2712-2722
Radiological–behavioral disparities in experimental osteoarthritis: Sex-specific progression and therapeutic response in a rat model
, José Renzo Castro Garcês2 , Gabriel Moreira Pereira1 , Raysa Lins Caldas1 , Isaias Moreira de Figueiredo1 , Lilah Karen Ribeiro Ferreira2 , Davi de Sousa Pinheiro2 , Nathalya dos Santos Martins3 , Adriana Araújo Dourado4 , Eduardo Martins de Sousa1,5 , Maria do Socorro de Sousa Cartágenes1 , and Rafael Cardoso Carvalho1 1. Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Center for Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil.
2. Institutional Program for Scientific Initiation Grants - PIBIC/UFMA, Center for Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil.
3. Chapadinha Science Center, Federal University of Maranhão, Chapadinha, Brazil.
4. Veterinary Imaging Diagnosis, São Luís, Brazil.
5. Program in Biosciences Applied to Health, CEUMA University, São Luís, Brazil.
Background and Aim: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive degenerative joint disorder characterized by cartilage loss, subchondral bone remodeling, and chronic pain, and remains a leading cause of disability worldwide. Although radiographic imaging and behavioral testing are widely used in preclinical research, few studies have systematically examined their interdependence. This study aimed to radiologically characterize OA progression in rats induced by monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) and to correlate structural alterations with functional and nociceptive outcomes, while exploring potential sex-specific differences and therapeutic responses to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Materials and Methods: Thirty-six Wistar rats (male and female) were divided into six experimental groups: Healthy controls, OA-induced untreated, and OA-induced meloxicam-treated. Over 28 days, animals underwent serial radiological assessments and validated behavioral tests, including weight-bearing, rotarod, and Von Frey assays. Statistical analyses employed analysis of variance with post hoc testing, ensuring methodological rigor with blinded evaluators and sex-stratified comparisons.
Results: Radiographs revealed classical OA features, joint space narrowing, subchondral bone sclerosis, and osteophyte formation, with progressive severity across timepoints. NSAID-treated males demonstrated significant improvement in motor coordination and nociceptive thresholds on days 7 and 14 (p < 0.001), whereas females exhibited only modest or delayed responses despite more severe radiological deterioration. Importantly, structural joint damage did not consistently align with behavioral impairments, underscoring a dissociation between radiographic severity and clinical-like manifestations.
Conclusion: This study provides an integrated evaluation of structural and functional outcomes in experimental OA, highlighting a complex relationship between radiological changes and behavioral impairments. The findings emphasize the necessity of multimodal assessment strategies in preclinical OA models and reveal sex-specific differences in disease progression and therapeutic response. These insights are crucial for refining translational strategies, advocating for sex-conscious approaches and combined structural-functional endpoints in OA research and drug development.
Keywords: behavioral assessment, experimental rat model, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, osteoarthritis, radiological analysis, sex differences.
How to cite this article: Silva ARM, Silva ER, Garcês JRC, Pereira GM, Caldas RL, de Figueiredo IM, Ferreira LKR, de Sousa Pinheiro D, dos Santos Martins N, Dourado AA, de Sousa EM, do Socorro de Sousa Cartágenes M, and Carvalho RC (2025) Radiological–behavioral disparities in experimental osteoarthritis: Sex-specific progression and therapeutic response in a rat model, Veterinary World, 18(9): 2712-2722.
Received: 28-02-2025 Accepted: 11-08-2025 Published online: 18-09-2025
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.2712-2722
Copyright: Silva, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
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