The effect of neurological deficit on the course of adjuvant arthritis in the rat

In an attempt to correlate the clinically observed protective effect of denervation on the subsequent development of arthritis with an animal model, the right sciatic nerve of 19 rats was cut and adjuvant arthritis induced. Two controls were used. The limbs were studied : Grossly by measuring the degree of swelling; histologically; and radiographically. No significant difference could be demonstrated between the degree of adjuvant arthritis in the neurologically intact and denervated limbs. The findings may not correspond to the clinical observation because cutting the sciatic nerve is not the same as anterior horn cell degeneration as in poliomyelitis, nor can it be compared with an upper motor neuron lesion as in stroke. In addition adjuvant arthritis in the rat is not the same as rheumatoid arthritis or arthrosis in man.