Monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) is an inhibitor of glyceraldehyde – 3 – phosphate dehydrogenase activity and causes dose-dependent cartilage degradation resembling the clinical, radiological, histological and molecular changes of human osteoarthritis. The MIA induced osteoarthritis model in rats and mice provides a consistently predicable model of osteoarthritis that can help study of early pathobiological events in the cartilage and the sybchondral bone. Therefore, judicious use of the MIA animal model could help elucidates mechanisms of human disease and contributes to the development and evaluation of novel treatments.