Intra-Articular Injection of Fructus Ligustri Lucidi Extract Attenuates Pain Behavior and Cartilage Degeneration in Mono-Iodoacetate Induced Osteoarthritic Rats

A review of botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and applications of the herb with the homology of medicine and food: Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton

Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton is an outstanding herb with the homology of medicine and food. Its ripe fruits are traditionally used as an important tonic for kidneys and liver in China. Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton is rich in nutritional components and a variety of bioactive ingredients. A total of 206 compounds have been isolated and identified, they mainly include flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, iridoid glycosides, and triterpenoids. These compounds exert anti-osteoporosis, anti-tumor, liver protective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton has been traditionally used to treat many complex diseases, including osteoporotic bone pain, rheumatic bone, cancer, related aging symptoms, and so on. In the 2020 Edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, there are more than 100 prescriptions containing L. lucidum W.T. Aiton. Among them, some classical preparations including Er Zhi Wan and Zhenqi fuzheng formula, are used in the treatment of various cancers with good therapeutic effects. Additionally, L. lucidum W.T. Aiton has also many excellent applications for functional food, ornamental plants, bioindicator of air pollution, algicidal agents, and feed additives. Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton has rich plant resources. However, the application potential of it has not been fully exploited. We hope that this paper provides a theoretical basis for the high-value and high-connotation development of L. lucidum W.T. Aiton in the future.

BuShen JianGu Fang alleviates cartilage degeneration via regulating multiple genes and signaling pathways to activate NF-κB/Sox9 axis

BACKGROUND

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an inflammatory response in chondrocytes, causing extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and cartilage destruction, affecting millions of people worldwide. Chinese herbal formulae BuShen JianGu Fang (BSJGF) has been clinically applied for treating OA-related syndromes, but the underlying mechanism still unclear.

METHODS

The components of BSJGF were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). To make a traumatic OA model, the anterior cruciate ligament of 6-8-week-old male SD rats were cut and then the 0.4 mm metal was used to destroy the knee joint cartilage. OA severity was assessed by histological and Micro-CT. Mouse primary chondrocytes were utilized to investigate the mechanism of BSJGF alleviate osteoarthritis, which was examined by RNA-seq technology combined with a series of functional experiments.

RESULTS

A total 619 components were identified by LC-MS. In vivo, BSJGF treatment result in a higher articular cartilage tissue area compared to IL-1β group. Treatment also significantly increased Tb.Th, BV/TV and BMD of subchondral bone (SCB), which implied a protective effect on maintaining the stabilization of SCB microstructure. In vitro results indicated BSJGF promoted chondrocyte proliferation, increased the expression level of cartilage-specific genes (Sox9, Col2a1, Acan) and synthesized acidic polysaccharide, while inhibiting the release of catabolic enzymes and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by IL-1β. Transcriptome analysis showed that there were 1471 and 4904 differential genes between IL-1β group and blank group, BSJGF group and IL-1β group, respectively, including matrix synthesis related genes (Col2a1, H19, Acan etc.), inflammation related genes (Comp, Pcsk6, Fgfr3 etc.) and oxidative stress related genes (Gm26917, Bcat1, Sod1 etc.). Furthermore, KEGG analysis and validation results showed that BSJGF reduces OA-mediated inflammation and cartilage damaged due to modulation of NF-κB/Sox9 signaling axis.

CONCLUSION

The innovation of the present study was the elucidation of the alleviating cartilage degradation effect of BSJGF in vivo and in vitro and discovery of its mechanism through RNA-seq combined with function experiments, which provides a biological rationale for the clinical application of BSJGF for OA treatment.

Nanofat lysate ameliorates pain and cartilage degradation of osteoarthritis through activation of TGF-β-Smad2/3 signaling of chondrocytes

Introduction: Nanofat is an effective cell therapy for osteoarthritis (OA). However, it has clinical limitations due to its short half-life. We developed Nanofat lysate (NFL) to overcome the defect of Nanofat and explore its anti-OA efficacy and mechanism. Methods: Monoiodoacetate (MIA) was employed to establish rat OA model. For pain assessment, paw withdrawal latency (PWL) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) were evaluated. Degeneration of cartilage was observed by histopathological and immunohistochemical examination. Primary chondrocytes were treated with TNF-α to establish the cellular model of OA. MTT, wound healing, and transwell assays were performed to assess effects of NFL on chondrocytes. RNA-seq, qPCR and Western blot assays were conducted to clarify the mechanism of NFL. Results and Discussion: The animal data showed that PWL and TWL values, Mankin's and OARSI scorings, and the Col2 expression in cartilage were significantly improved in the NFL-treated OA rats. The cellular data showed that NFL significantly improved the proliferation, wound healing, and migration of chondrocytes. The molecular data showed that NFL significantly restored the TNF-α-altered anabolic markers (Sox9, Col2 and ACAN) and catabolic markers (IL6 and Mmp13). The RNA-seq identified that TGF-β-Smad2/3 signaling pathway mediated the efficacy of NFL, which was verified by qPCR and Western blot that NFL significantly restored the abnormal expressions of TGFβR2, phosphorylated-Smad2, phosphorylated-Smad2/3, Col2, Mmp13 and Mmp3. After long-term storage, NFL exerted similar effects as its fresh type, indicating its advantage of storability. In sum, NFL was developed as a new therapeutic approach and its anti-OA efficacy and mechanism that mediated by TGF-β-Smad2/3 signaling was determined for the first time. Besides, the storability of NFL provided a substantial advantage than other living cell-based therapies.

Natural Approach in Osteoarthritis Therapy

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease worldwide, and its rising prevalence is supported by factors such as obesity and sedentariness. At the molecular level, it is considered an inflammatory disease that leads to the destruction of articular cartilage. Effective therapy to end the degenerative process of arthritis remains elusive, and most therapeutic tools prevent the progress or alleviate the symptoms. By now, medicines for OA are available for oral, topical, or intra-articular (IA) therapy and include analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, and hyaluronic acid. Compared with conventional oral administration, IA therapy has multiple advantages in terms of bioavailability, efficacy, and toxicity. This review aims to study the underlying beneficial effects of herbal medicine in OA therapy and to open new research perspectives. Herbal medicine administered orally or topically exhibits pharmacological properties that could be relevant for their beneficial effect in OA, mainly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. There are few studies regarding IA injections of plant extracts/ compounds and none related to any combination with agents already used in the clinic. Designing natural pharmaceutical formulations with increased bioavailability that are safe, lack side effects, and are specifically tested, would be a plus for research on medicinal plants and a novelty for the clinic.

Investigating the protective effect of tanshinone IIA against chondrocyte dedifferentiation: a combined molecular biology and network pharmacology approach

Background

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative disease with multifactorial etiology. The dedifferentiation of chondrocytes can accelerate the progress of OA. Tanshinone IIA (TIIA) has been widely used to treat OA for many years and has proved to be effective in inhibiting chondrocyte dedifferentiation. Until now, the precise mechanism of TIIA’s effect against dedifferentiation has not been well understood.

Methods

The targets of TIIA were explored from public databases using various methods. The related targets of OA were obtained from the GeneCards database and the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database. The potential targets and signaling pathways were determined using protein-protein interaction (PPI), Gene Ontology (GO), and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Cell viability, proliferation, and metabolic activity were analyzed in vitro. The effects of TIIA on chondrocyte dedifferentiation were evaluated by assessing morphological changes, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) production, and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of cartilage-related genes. After 48 hours of culture in medium with 100 μg/mL TIIA, chondrocytes/hydrogel spheres were implanted to repair cartilage defects in a rat model. The harvested specimens were examined with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and immunohistochemistry to evaluate cartilage regeneration.

Results

The results showed that there were 28 genes potentially interacting in the TIIA-chondrocyte dedifferentiation network, and nine hub genes were identified. In vitro experiments showed an inhibitory effect of TIIA on chondrocyte dedifferentiation. The proliferation and viability of chondrocytes were promoted by TIIA at a concentration of 100–200 μg/mL, but inhibited by TIIA at 400 μg/mL. Furthermore, the histology results showed that chondrocyte/hydrogel spheres pre-treated with TIIA had better cartilage repair.

Conclusions

This study revealed a systematic network pharmacology approach and provided a basis for the future study of TIIA as an effective treatment for cartilage regeneration. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo results confirmed the protective effects of TIIA against chondrocyte dedifferentiation.

Chondroprotective effects of platelet lysate towards monoiodoacetate-induced arthritis by suppression of TNF-α-induced activation of NF-ĸB pathway in chondrocytes

Platelet lysate (PL) contains a cocktail of growth factors that actively participates in cartilage repair. This study was designed to determine the effect and mechanism of PL on osteoarthritis (OA). An arthritis model was established to mimic human OA by intra-articular injection of monoiodoacetate (MIA) to Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The model was weekly treated with PL by intra-articular injection. Thermal withdrawal latency, mechanical withdrawal threshold, and treadmill gait were tested for pain behavior observation. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses were conducted for evaluating cartilage degradation. Real time PCRs and Western blots were conducted to elucidate the mechanism of PL on primary chondrocytes. Results showed that, in vivo, PL significantly attenuated pain symptoms and exerted chondrocyte-protective and extracellular matrix (ECM)-modifying effect on the arthritic cartilage in a dose-dependent manner. The in situ expressions of type II Collagen (Col2) and matrix metalloproteinase 13 (Mmp13) in the arthritic cartilage was abnormal and was restored by PL. In vitro, PL significantly restored tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α)-suppressed anabolic gene expression (Col2 and aggrecan) and TNF-α-increased catabolic gene expression (Col10, Mmp13, Adamts5, and Adamts9) in chondrocytes. The effects were mediated by TNF-α downstream signaling, including inhibition of NF-κB and c-Jun activities. This study provides certain knowledge of anti-OA effect and TNF signaling-related mechanism of PL, placing it as a promising and alternative option for OA therapy in the future.