Mechanism of action of genicular artery embolization in a rabbit model of knee osteoarthritis.

Surgical transection of the anterior cruciate ligament and medial partial meniscectomy of rabbit knees provides a useful animal model for research of genicular artery embolization. Osteoarthritic knees treated by genicular artery embolization showed milder synovial proliferation (p = .016), synovial hypertrophy (p < .001), and villous hyperplasia of the synovial stroma (p = .002) than the untreated knees. Osteoarthritic knees treated by genicular artery embolization presented lower CD3+ cell density (p = .018) and CD3+ cell-infiltrated area (p = .019) in the synovium than the untreated knees.