Subchondral remodeling is an important pathogenic mechanism in primary gonarthrosis progress. The role of altered metabolism of osseous tissue in early signs of articular pathology remains vague, and the informative value of biochemical markers is discussible. Our research involved 103 patients (64 women and 39 men) with 0-I gonarthrosis stages and 103 healthy individuals (72 women and 28 men) of 36 to 50 years old. We measured osteocalcin, pyridinoline, type I collagen telopeptides, vitamin B metabolites, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein concentrations, determined the activity of bone alkaline phosphatase, and diagnostic significance of the markers with the ROC curve. We found the increase (p<0.0001) in bone alkaline phosphatase, type I collagen telopeptides, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein concentrations as well as osteocalcin (p<0.0002) in 0-I gonarthrosis stages as compared to the controls. The ROC curve featured 98.1 and 79.6 percent sensitivity and specificity of type I collagen telopeptides; 80.6 and 52.4 percent of osteocalcin; 99.0 and 78.6 percent of pyridinoline, respectively. These findings suggest the significant role of subchondral remodeling in the pathogenesis of early gonarthrosis stages. Pyridinoline and type I collagen telopeptides are the most informative osseous markers detectable in the serum of patients with early gonarthrosis.
Keywords: early gonarthrosis; subchondral remodeling markers.