ABSTRACT
【Objective】 To explore pain and collapse mechanisms in fosteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with bone marrow edema (BME). 【Methods】 ONFH patients at ARCO Ⅲ stage who underwent total hip arthroplasty in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine were enrolled; the femoral head samples, clinical and imaging data were collected. These patients were divided into BME group and non-BME group according to the MR data in one week preoperative. Hematoxylin-eosin and Sirius red staining were performed to observe the morphological changes in bone tissue of femoral head specimens. Western blotting and qPCR were used to semi-quantitatively analyze the expression levels of CTSK, RANKL, and Netrin-1 proteins and mRNA in different regions of the bone tissue. 【Results】 Clinical and imaging data showed that ONFH patients with BME had significantly higher scores of VAS than ONFH patients without BME. Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that bone structure disorder and a large number of empty bone lacunae were found in the necrotic areas in both groups, but there exited significant granulation tissue in the BME group, and spindle-shaped fibroblastic cells and inflammatory cells aggregated in the repaired region. Sirius red staining revealed the necrotic and sclerotic areas were accumulated with many collagenous fiber in the BME group. The results of Western blotting and qPCR showed that Netrin-1 expressions in the necrotic, sclerotic and health areas in the BME group were higher than those in the non-BME group (P<0.05), while osteoclast related proteins and mRNA expressions of the necrotic and sclerotic areas in the BME group was higher than those in the non-BME group (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 All these findings indicated that hip pain was positively correlated with femoral head necrosis with BME, hyperactive osteoclasts participated in the femoral head collapse with BME, and the upregulated expression of Netrin-1 mediated the pain mechanism.
ABSTRACT
Fibrocartilage enthesis is the junction between bone and tendon with a typical characteristics of fibrocartilage transition zones. The regeneration of this transition zone is the bottleneck for functional restoration of bone tendon junction (BTJ). Biomimetic approaches, especially decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) materials, are strategies which aim to mimic the components of tissues to the utmost extent, and are becoming popular in BTJ healing because of their ability not only to provide scaffolds to allow cells to attach and migrate, but also to provide a microenvironment to guide stem/progenitor cells lineage-specific differentiation. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of those approaches, especially the ECM proteins, remain unclear. For BTJ reconstruction, fibrocartilage regeneration is the key for good integrity of bone and tendon as well as its mechanical recovery, so the components which can guide stem cells to a chondrogenic commitment in biomimetic approaches might well be the key for fibrocartilage regeneration and eventually for the better BTJ healing. In this review, we firstly discuss the importance of cartilage-like formation in the healing process of BTJ. Next, we explore the possibility of tendon-derived stem/progenitor cells as cell sources for BTJ regeneration due to their multi-differentiation potential. Finally, we summarize the role of extracellular matrix components of BTJ in guiding stem cell fate to a chondrogenic commitment, so as to provide cues for understanding the mechanisms of lineage-specific potential of biomimetic approaches as well as to inspire researchers to incorporate unique ECM components that facilitate BTJ repair into design.
Subject(s)
Bone and Bones , Tendons , Extracellular Matrix , Fibrocartilage , Stem Cells , Tissue Engineering , Tissue ScaffoldsABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Osteoporosis (OP) is a common bone disease, which adversely affects life quality. Effective treatments are necessary to combat both the loss and fracture of bone. Recent studies indicated that caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is a natural chemical compound from honeybee propolis which is capable of attenuating osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of CAPE on bone loss in OP mice using micro-computed tomography (CT) and histology.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighteen mice were prepared and evenly divided into three groups. The six mice in the sham+PBS group did not undergo ovariectomy and were intraperitoneally injected with PBS during the curing period. Twelve mice were ovariectomized (OVX) to induce OP. Six of them in the OVX+CAPE group were intraperitoneally injected with 0.5 mg/kg CAPE twice per week for 4 weeks after ovariectomy. The other six OVX mice in OVX+PBS group were treated with PBS. All the mice were sacrificed 4 weeks after ovariectomy. The tibias were bilaterally excised for micro-CT scan and histological analysis. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to test the statistical differences among groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Bone loss occurred in OVX mice. Compared with the sham+PBS group, mice in the OVX+PBS group exhibited a significant decrease in bone mineral density (BMD, P < 0.05), bone volume fraction (BV/TV, P < 0.01), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th, P < 0.05), and trabecular number (Tb.N, P < 0.01), as well as a non-insignificant increase in the number of osteoclasts (N.Oc/B.Pm). With CAPE treatment, the microarchitecture of the tibial metaphyses was significantly improved with a reduction of osteoclast formation. Compared with the OVX+PBS group, BV/TV in the OVX+CAPE group was significantly increased by 33.9% (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CAPE therapy results in the protection of bone loss induced by OVX.</p>
