Stereological analysis of the synovial membrane in rheumatic disorders: diagnostic value of volume-weighted mean nuclear volume estimation |
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Authors: | E ARTACHO-PÉRULA R ROLDÉAN-VILLALOBOS E COLLANTES-ESTÉVEZ A LÓPEZ-BELTRÉAN |
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Institution: | Department of Morphological Sciences, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain;Department of Medicine, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain;Department of Pathology, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain |
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Abstract: | Quantitative evaluation of nuclear size of synoviocytes was performed on 48 synovial biopsies in various rheumatic disorders: osteoarthritis (n = 10), rheumatoid arthritis (11), and chronic non-specific synovitis (14). Thirteen tissue specimens from non-inflammatory synovial membrane were included as a control group. Using the point-sampled intercepts method, unbiased stereological estimates of volume-weighted mean nuclear volume (nuclear νv) were obtained. A slight increase in nuclear volume was observed in osteoarthritis in comparision with the control group with an overlap in 90% of cases. However, in rheumatoid arthritis there was a significant increase of nuclear νv. Significant differences were found between rheumatoid arthritis and the control and osteoarthritis groups (P 0.001). In biopsies from patients diagnosed as chronic non-specific synovitis the averaged nuclear νv values were between those in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis with a wide range of data. Similar, but less significant differences were demonstrated between rheumatic disorders when using mean nuclear area. Further analysis of chronic non-specific synovitis patients in combination with nuclear νv estimates as a simple, unbiased, complementary tool are required to better establish the diagnostic value of nuclear stereology in the diagnosis of rheumatic disorders. |
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Keywords: | Keywords: rheumatic disorder synovium stereology mean nuclear volume |
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