Effect of Jianxi Qianggu Pill on the pathological changes of articular cartilage in knee osteoarthritis rabbits / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Knee osteoarthritis is characterized by inreversible pathological changes, belonging to arthragia syndrome. The goal of the treatment is to release or relieve symptoms and delay joint degeneration. Jianxi Qianggu Pil is an empirical formula developed by the Third People’s Hospital of Jingzhou, School of Basic Medical Science, Wuhan University, China. This prescription can nourish liver and kidney, eliminate wind and disperse cold, expel wet and dredge the col aterals, consolidate bone and reinforce knee. OBJECTIVE:To observe the protective effect of Jianxi Qianggu Pil on joint cartilage and expression of bone morphogenetic protein 7 in rabbits with knee osteoarthritis. METHODS:A total of 36 New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into three groups, with 12 ones in each. The involved rabbits were applied to establish the model of knee osteoarthritis by using the modified Hulth’s method. At 6 weeks after modeling, the drug group was given 0.1 g/kg Jianxi Qianggu Pil via intragastric administration, while model group and normal control group received equal volume of saline. At 4 weeks after drug administration, rabbit articular cartilage was evaluated with Mankin’s scoring method. The cartilage morphology was observed under electron microscopy, and bone morphogenetic protein 7 expression was detected using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The pathological degeneration degree of articular cartilage in the drug group was significantly lighter, and bone morphogenetic protein 7 expression was significantly higher than the other two groups (P<0.05). Experimental findings indicate that, Jianxi Qianggu Pil can promote the expression of bone morphogenetic protein 7 in articular cartilage of knee osteoarthritis rabbits, thereby promoting articular cartilage regeneration and reducing cartilage deformation or necrosis for the treatment of arthritis.