To examine the fate of cryopreserved meniscus used as orthotopic allograft on alternative to total removal of menisci, the authors have performed replacement of medial meniscus with cryopreserved one which had been preserved at −70℃ for 7 days in right side and with fresh autograft without cryopreservation in left side as a control group.Transplanted menisci were sampled at 4, 8, 12 ,16 weeks, postoperatively to observe their gross and histological findings. At 4 weeks, the allograft was healed to the perioheral capsular tissue and meniscal horn attachments of the host by fibrovascular scar tissue retained their normal appearance in gross findings. It showed an increased cellularity immediately adjacent to its peripheral attachment covered by the vascularized synovial tissues. At 8 weeks, it showed even distribution of cellularity in histological finding. At 12 weeks, gross findings of mild shrinkage and degeneration were seen and those were covered by both synovial and connective tissue with regenerated chondrocyte in histological findings. At 16 weeks, a little difference between allograft and normal meniscus was showed in gross and histological findings. There are regenerated chondrocytes in the deep area some degenerative changes were noted in the tibial and femoral cartilage not covered by meniscus. Above results showed cryopreserved meniscal allograft was able to regenerate and clinically suggest good treatment modality in case of unable to reshape to normal structure after total meniscectomy.
Allografts ; Animals ; Autografts ; Cartilage ; Chondrocytes ; Cicatrix ; Connective Tissue ; Cryopreservation ; Horns ; Knee ; Menisci, Tibial

Malaria is the most common vector-borne parasitic disease in Malaysia and Thailand, especially in Malayan Borneo and along the Thailand border areas, but little is known about the genetic diversity of the parasite. Present study aims to investigate the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum isolates in these two countries and eventually contributes to more effective malaria control strategies, particularly in vaccine and antimalarial treatment. One hundred and seventy three P. falciparum isolates were collected from Malaysia (n = 67) and Thailand (n = 106) and genotyped using nested PCR targeting the polymorphic region of MSP-1, block 2. Sequence analysis was conducted to investigate the allele diversity of the isolates. Three allelic families were identified in Malaysian and Thailand P. falciparum isolates, MAD20, K1 and RO33. Sequence analysis revealed that there were 5 different MAD20, 1 K1 and 2 different RO33 for Malaysian isolates. Thailand isolates exhibited greater polymorphism because there were 13 different MAD20, 6 different K1 and 2 different RO33 identified in this study. Multiclonal infections were observed for the isolates in both countries, however, low multiplicity of infection (MOI) was observed for Malaysian (1.1) and Thailand (1.2) isolates. Phylogenetic analysis showed that P. falciparum isolates of Malaysia and Thailand were clustered in the same group for all the allelic families. Population structure of P. falciparum isolates in Malaysia and Thailand exhibit extensive genetic polymorphism but showed high similarities as well as comparable MOI.