Exploration of Protective Effect of Sishen Decoction on Articular Cartilage in Rats with Knee Osteoarthritis via Hedgehog Signal Pathway
Objective To explore the potential protective effects of Sishen Decoction on articular cartilage in a rat model of knee osteoarthritis and elucidate the underlying mechanism.Methods Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups:sham operation group(SOG),model group(MG),low-dose group(LDG)of Sishen Decoction and high-dose group(HDG)of Sishen Decoction,with 10 rats in each group.Intragastric administration was conducted once daily over a continuous six-week period.Next,HE staining was employed to examine the morphological changes in knee joint tissues.Micro-CT was used to assess the structural conditions of subchondral bone and analyze morphological parameters of bone trabeculae.Additionally,qPCR was applied to analyze the changes in mRNA expression of Shh,Gli1 and collagen II in cartilage tissues of each group.Results The results of HE staining revealed that MG exhibited overall uneven staining,significant damage to the articular cartilage surface with evident fissures,thinning of the cartilage layer,reduced cartilage quantity,disordered distribution and arrangement of chondrocytes,unclear boundaries of each layer and conspicuous irregularities in the tidemark.In contrast,LDG and HDG showed certain improvement compared to MG.Micro-CT demonstrated severe joint surface damage accompanied by formation of osteophyte in MG and marked reduction in subchondral bone mass,which was notably ameliorated in LDG and HDG.Compared to MG,the rats in HDG exhibited significant increases in bone trabecular number(Tb.N),bone volume fraction(BV/TV),trabecular thickness(Tb.Th)and the mRNA expression of collagen II in cartilage tissue(P＜0.05),while the mRNA expression levels of Shh and Gli1 significantly decreased(P＜0.001).Conclusion Sishen Decoction exhibits protective effects on the articular cartilage of rats with knee osteoarthritis,and its mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of the Hedgehog signal pathway and regulation of the expression of collagen II.
Sishen Decoctionknee osteoarthritisHedgehog signal pathwayarticular cartilage
万方数据
维普
