Profiling the knee joints of mice with Type 1 diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) affects 9.5% of the population. T1DM is characterized by severe insulin deficiency that causes hyperglycemia and leads to several systemic effects. T1DM has been suggested as a risk factor for articular cartilage damage and loss, which could expedite the development of osteoarthritis (OA). OA represents a major public health challenge by affecting 300 million people globally, yet very little is known about the correlation between T1DM and OA. In this study we aimed to understand the role of T1DM in OA by evaluating whether pre-existing T1DM exacerbates the development of knee post traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Overall design: Right knee joints of 10-week-old C57Bl/6J (Ctrl) and STZ injected C57BL/6J (T1DM) mice were injured using a tibial compression injury model. Hindlimbs were collected from uninjured and injured mice at 7-days post-injury. Subsequently, knee joints were isolated, about ~1mm tissue was cut from the end of femur and tibia and digested to obtain single cell suspensions. After depleting CD45+ immune cells and Ter119+ erythrocytes, the remaining cells were sequenced to obtain single-cell level gene expression profiles.