Funding outcome

There is little attention on the potential sex-dependent impact of spaceflight associated low gravity (microgravity) on joint health. Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease, and it primarily affects the mechanical load-bearing structures of the joint. Its negative effect on patients' quality of life is enormous. Over 20% of the Canadian population over age 15 suffer from osteoarthritis, and the most common joint affected is the knee. Knee osteoarthritis is more prevalent in females, and the reason for the disparity is not fully understood. Contrary to historical data that knee articular cartilage is primarily affected by osteoarthritis, recent data revealed that osteoarthritis affects the knee meniscus first. The meniscus is the primary load-bearing structure of the knee. More recent pilot data has shown that meniscus models containing female cells are more responsive to simulated microgravity conditions than their male counterparts. The data showed that the female-derived models expressed genes associated with knee osteoarthritis in response to simulated microgravity. This project will explore the use of simulated microgravity to understand the basis of the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis in females. The findings of this project have the potential to discover new sex specific drug targets for treating knee osteoarthritis to alleviate the burden of the disease in Canada and globally.