Background
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA) represents 13% of all OA of the knee, 9% in the hip, and 73% of all OA of the ankle [1]. The molecular mechanisms that underlie the development of chronic joint surface degeneration following a localised, acute joint injury are not known. The aim of this study is to utilise the cartilage explant model system to identify molecular mechanism of cartilage damage and repair induced by acute mechanical injury.