Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2017, 6th- 8th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. IV, No. 1s   ISSN: 2283-3927 

   

 

l 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keywords 

Meniscus, Pig, Matrix 

 

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Umberto Polito 

umberto.polito@unimi.it 

 

JOURNAL HOME PAGE 

riviste.unimi.it/index.php/haf 

Meniscus matrix morphological  

composition: age-dependent  

evaluation in a swine model 

Umberto Polito1*, Elena Dell’Era4, Giuseppe M Peretti2,3,  

Irene Tessaro2, Cinzia Domeneghini1, Alessia Di Giancamillo1 

 

1University of Milan, Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, Italy  

2IRCCS, Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy 

3University of Milan, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Italy 

4DVM 

 

Abstract 

Menisci are fibro-cartilaginous structures interposed between femoral condyle and tibial plateau, 

which have multiple functions in the stifle joint: act as shock absorbers, bear loaders and allow joint 

stability, congruity and lubrication (Sweigart et al., 2004; Proffen et al., 2012). It is well known that 

meniscal injuries lead to osteoarthritis and for these reasons, menisci are considered important target 

of investigation. Their important role in the knee wellness is only equalled by their deficiency in proper 

self-repairing.  

Nowadays, the gold standard technique is not just to remove the damaged meniscus, but to rebuild 

it or to replace it. For these reasons, studies are necessary to increase the knowledge about these 

small but essential structures (Streuli, 1999; Deponti et al., 2013). Composition and morphology are 

basic fundamental information for the development of engineered meniscal substitutes (Di 

Giancamillo et al., 2014). The analysis of the morphological, structural and biochemical changes, which 

occur during growth of the normal menisci, represent the goal of the present study. For this purpose, 

menisci from adult (7-month old), young (1-month old), and neonates (stillbirths) pigs were collected. 

Cellularity and glycosamiglycans (GAGs) deposition were evaluated by ELISA, while Collagen-1 and 

Collagen-2 were investigated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analyses. Cellularity (P<0.01, 

all comparisons) and Collagen-1 (P<0.05, neonatal-young vs adult) decreased from neonatal to adult 

stage while GAGs (P<0.01 neonatal vs young-adult) and Collagen-2 (P<0.01 neonatal-young vs adult) 

showed the opposite trend. Immunohistochemistry revealed similar changes occurring during animal 

growth thus revealing that cellular phenotype, cellularity and protein expression, as well as fibers 

aggregation in the matrix, are dissimilar in the three ages analysed categories. These changes reflect 

the progressive menisci maturation and hyper-specialisation. We observed the correlation between 

biochemical and phenotype properties of swine menisci follow age-dependent changes during 

growth: starting with an immature cellular and fiber pattern to the mature organised and 

differentiated adult menisci.  
 

Acknowledgments 

This work was funded by the “Finanziamento Piano Sviluppo Ateneo - Linea 2A” 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en


Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2017, 6th- 8th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. IV, No. 1s   ISSN: 2283-3927 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

References 

Deponti, D., Di Giancamillo, A., Scotti, C., Peretti, G.M., Martin, I., 2013. Animal models for meniscus repair and 

regeneration. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 9 (5), 512-527 

Di Giancamillo, A., Deponti, D., Addis, A., Domeneghini, C., Peretti, G.M., 2014. Meniscus maturation in the swine 

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Sweigart, M.A., Zhu, C.F., Burt, D.M., Deholl, P.D., Agrawal, C.M., Clanton, T.O., Athanasiou, K.A., 2004. Intraspecies 

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en