On anormal nutrition in articular cartilages / by P. Redfern.

  • Redfern, Peter, 1821-1912.
Date:
1849-1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On anormal nutrition in articular cartilages / by P. Redfern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In the articulation between the rows of carpal bones scarcely any cartilage remains, and the bones are more or less firmly united. Part of the head of the os magnum has broken away and adheres to the scaphoid. The bones in the upper row separate readily, and are still covered with car¬ tilage on their opposed surfaces ; those in the lower row also separate easily; the cartilage of their opposed surfaces is removed, and in its place there is a soft fibrinous mass. The carpal end of the fifth metacarpal bone, and the lower part of the unciform, have been removed, and a mass of granulations covers their ends. The carpo-metacarpal articulations open easily. The articular surface of the trapezium for the metacarpal bone is covered with cartilage, and appears healthy. Scarcely a trace of cartilage exists on any other bone, but the arti¬ cular surfaces are covered with a soft granular exudation. The metacarpal bones are bare where they are opposed to each other, except the adjacent sides of the third and fourth, which are covered with cartilage. The inter-articular ligaments are entire and still very firm. Microscopic Examination.—The cartilage on the lower articular surface of the radius (Fig. XIII.) presents a series of rounded cells -py^th to 14100th of an inch in diameter, which lie in rounded clusters of the diameter of about T^oth of an inch, and are in some places bound together by a mother cell ; in others, they are much further apart. They contain a number of irregular gra¬ nules of various sizes, as represented below. In other places, there are large rounded patches, ^th of an inch long and giroth broad, granular in appear¬ ance, and presenting traces of former nuclei. There are all sizes of the patches below the measurements given. Besides these, there are rounded cells of the sizes of the patches, containing a number of irregular and glistening corpuscles measuring 2 3*6 0th to j^Votb. of an inch. Some of these corpuscles contain a number of granules. Many of the sections taken from these parts present a remarkably beautiful appearance, showing, at one part, small rounded cells with granules in their interior ; further on, similar cells considerably enlarged, but still containing a few small granules; and, nearer to the surface, a further en¬ largement occurs—the granules disappear—the cells become mottled, and many are seen to have burst and discharged their contents. These changes are shown in the section represented in Fig. XIV. Fig. XIII. Fig. XIV. Figs. XIII. and XIV.—Oblique sections of cartilage from the radius and semilunar bon-’S,showing, Fig. XIII., clusters of cells, with granules and granular patches; in Fig. XIV., the distension of the, cells, and the destruction of their granules as they come to the surface.