Unlocking Joint Pain with Microscale Devices

By Meagan Makarczyk, Michael S. Gold, Hang Lin

Organ-on-chip devices model osteoarthritis at a microscale so scientists can study the disease and test drugs to relieve pain.

Biology Medicine Technology

This Article From Issue

July-August 2022

Volume 110, Number 4

Page 222

DOI: 10.1511/2022.110.4.222

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Joint pain caused by arthritis is a common and widespread problem, affecting 24 percent of adult Americans. Current treatment options are limited, often contain risks, and can lose effectiveness over time. Since 2014, our research teams in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery have created and used microscale artificial joints to study osteoarthritis. Then in 2022, for the first time ever, we grew four tissues in one system, using a patented device called the miniJoint, to study osteoarthritis pain and to test pain-reducing drugs. This breakthrough device allows us to complete detailed lab-based studies into the causes of and treatments for joint pain.

Osteoarthritis is a whole-joint disease. The most recognized change caused by osteoarthritis is cartilage degradation, which eventually results in bone-on-bone contact. Other changes include bone thickening and abnormal bone tissue formation, also called *bone spurs*, which narrow the joint space and limit movement capacity. There is also degradation of ligaments and the meniscus, and inflammation of the synovium and the infrapatellar fat pad. Any or all of these changes to joint tissues may contribute to the pain of osteoarthritis.

**© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Publishers; Puwadol Jaturawutthichai/Alamy Stock Photo**

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