Intra-Articular Injection of miR-29a-3p of BMSCs Promotes Cartilage Self-Repairing and Alleviates Pain in the Rat Osteoarthritis

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND@#Stem cells intra-articular injection stagey indicated a potential therapeutic effect on improving the pathological progress of osteoarthritis (OA). However, the long-term effect of stem cells intra-articular injection on the cartilage regeneration remains unclear. miR-29a-3p is predicted to be a critical target for inhibiting insulin-like growth factor-1 expression and may aggravate the progression of OA. @*METHODS@#In this study, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of intra-articular injection of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transfected with miR-29a-3p inhibitor in OA. @*RESULTS@#miR-29a-3p inhibitor transfection did not influence cell viability of BMSCs, while the chondrogenic differentiation potential of BMSCs was significantly improved. Interestingly, intra-articular injection of BMSCs with miR-29a-3p inhibition significantly prevented articular cartilage degeneration by up-regulating the expression of Sox 9, Col-2a1, aggrecan and down-regulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinase, as well as relieved pain in OA. @*CONCLUSION@#The double effects on cartilage protection and pain relief indicated a great potential of intra-articular injection of miR-29a-3p inhibitor-transfected BMSCs for the treatment of OA.