Characterizing the transient response of knee cartilage to running: Decreases in cartilage T-2 of female recreational runners

Cartilage transmits and redistributes biomechanical loads in the knee joint during exercise. Exercise-induced loading alters cartilage hydration and is detectable using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where T-2 relaxation time (T-2) is influenced by cartilage collagen composition, fiber orientation, and changes in the extracellular matrix. This study characterized short-term transient responses of healthy knee cartilage to running-induced loading using bilateral scans and image registration. Eleven healthy female recreational runners (33.73 +/- 4.22 years) and four healthy female controls (27.25 +/- 1.38 years) were scanned on a 3T GE MRI scanner with quantitative 3D double-echo in steady-state before running over-ground (runner group) or resting (control group) for 40 min. Subjects were scanned immediately post-activity at 5-min intervals for 60 min. T-2 times were calculated for femoral, tibial, and patellar cartilage at each time point and analyzed using a mixed-effects model and Bonferroni post hoc. There were immediate decreases in T-2 (mean +/- SEM) post-run in superficial femoral cartilage of at least 3.3% +/- 0.3% (p = .002) between baseline and Time 0 that remained for 25 min, a decrease in superficial tibial cartilage T-2 of 2.9% +/- 0.4% (p = .041) between baseline and Time 0, and a decrease in superficial patellar cartilage T-2 of 3.6% +/- 0.3% (p = .020) 15 min post-run. There were decreases in the medial posterior region of superficial femoral cartilage T-2 of at least 5.3 +/- 0.2% (p = .022) within 5 min post-run that remained at 60 min post-run. These results increase understanding of transient responses of healthy cartilage to repetitive, exercise-induced loading and establish preliminary recommendations for future definitive studies of cartilage response to running.