Anti-inflammatory effect of egg white-chalcanthite and purple bamboo salts mixture on arthritis induced by monosodium iodoacetate in Sprague-Dawley rats

Mori Folium water extract alleviates articular cartilage damages and inflammatory responses in monosodium iodoacetate‑induced osteoarthritis rats

Mori folium, the leaf of Morus alba L. (Moraceae), has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. It has been recently reported that Mori folium possesses potential chondroprotective effects in interleukin (IL)-1β-stimulated human chondrocytes; however, its protective and therapeutic potential against osteoarthritis (OA) in an animal model remains unclear. In this study, as part of an ongoing screening program to evaluate the anti-osteoarthritic potential of Mori folium, the protective effects of a water extract of Mori folium (MF) on cartilage degradation and inflammatory responses in a monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA rat model were evaluated. The results demonstrated that administration of MF had a tendency to attenuate the damage to articular cartilage induced by MIA, as determined by knee joint swelling and the histological grade of OA. The elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinases-13 and two bio-markers for the diagnosis and progression of OA, such as the cartilage oligomeric matrix protein and C-telopeptide of type II collagen, were markedly ameliorated by MF administration in MIA-induced OA rats. In addition, MF significantly suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. MF also effectively inhibited the expression of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase and cyclooxygenase-2, thus inhibiting the release of NO and prostaglandin E₂. Although further work is required to fully understand the critical role and clinical usefulness, these findings indicate that MF may be a potential therapeutic option for the treatment of OA.

Schisandrae Fructus ethanol extract ameliorates inflammatory responses and articular cartilage damage in monosodium iodoacetate-induced osteoarthritis in rats

Schisandrae Fructus, the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a number of chronic diseases. Although, Schisandrae Fructus was recently reported to attenuate the interleukin (IL)-1β-induced inflammatory response in chondrocytes in vitro, its protective and therapeutic potential against osteoarthritis (OA) in an animal model remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of the ethanol extract of Schisandrae Fructus (SF) on inflammatory responses and cartilage degradation in a monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced OA rat model. Our results demonstrated that administration with SF had a tendency to attenuate MIA-induced damage of articular cartilage as determined by a histological grade of OA. SF significantly suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in MIA-induced OA rats. SF also effectively inhibited expression of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase and cyclooxygenase-2, thereby inhibiting the release of NO and prostaglandin E₂. In addition, the elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinases-13 and two biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of OA, such as cartilage oligomeric matrix protein and C-telopeptide of type II collagen, were markedly ameliorated by SF administration. These findings indicate that SF could be a potential candidate for the treatment of OA.