ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of tripterine on wear particle-induced inflammatory reaction by cell culture in vitro. Methods Wear particles from artificial joints were prepared by vacuum ball milling, and made into the par-ticle suspension by using serum-free medium. RAW264.7 cells were cultured, subcultured and divided randomly into four groups according to different treatment factors:blank control group (group A), wear particle group (group B), wear particle+tripterine group (group C) and tripterine group (group D). After 24 hours, the toxicity of tripterine was detected by CCK-8 as-say. ELISA was used to detect the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin-1β(IL-1β). RT-PCR was used to detect the expressions of TNF-α, IL-1βand nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) at the gene level. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression of NF-κB at the protein level. Results The results showed that 1 mg/L tripterine was little cytotoxic. The expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the activation of NF-κB were significantly higher in wear particle group than those in blank control group (P＜0.05), which were significantly decreased after the treatment with tripter-ine (group C, P＜0.05). Conclusion Tripterine can inhibit the wear particle-induced expression and release of pro-inflam-matory cytokines at the gene level and protein level and the activation of NF-κB in RAW264.7 cells.