Naringin and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells repair articular cartilage defects in rabbit knees through the transforming growth factor‑&beta; superfamily signaling pathway

Ye,Chao; Chen,Jing; Qu,Yi; Liu,Hang; Yan,Junxing; Lu,Yingdong; Yang,Zheng; Wang,Fengxian; Li,Pengyang

doi:10.3892/etm.2020.9187

Naringin and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells repair articular cartilage defects in rabbit knees through the transforming growth factor‑β superfamily signaling pathway

Authors:
- Chao Ye
- Jing Chen
- Yi Qu
- Hang Liu
- Junxing Yan
- Yingdong Lu
- Zheng Yang
- Fengxian Wang
- Pengyang Li
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Affiliations: Orthopedics Department, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700, P.R. China, Preventative Treatment of Disease Department, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, P.R. China, Orthopedics Department, Huguosi Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100035, P.R. China, Orthopedics Department, Tongzhou District Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, Beijing 101100, P.R. China, Pathology Department, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, P.R. China, SATCM Key Laboratory of Renowned Physician and Classical Formula, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, P.R. China
Published online on: September 4, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9187
Article Number: 59
Copyright: © Ye et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the effect of a combination of naringin and rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) on the repair of cartilage defects in rabbit knee joints and to assess possible involvement of the transforming growth factor‑β (TGF‑β) signaling pathway in this process. After establishing an articular cartilage defect model in rabbit knees, 20 New Zealand rabbits were divided into a sham operation group (Sham), a model group (Mod), a naringin treatment group (Nar), a BMSC group (BMSCs) and a naringin + BMSC group (Nar/BMSCs). At 12 weeks after treatment, the cartilage was evaluated using the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS)'s macroscopic evaluation of cartilage repair scale, the ICRS's visual histological assessment scale, the Modified O'Driscoll grading system, histological staining (hematoxylin and eosin staining, toluidine blue staining and safranin O staining) and immunohistochemical staining (type‑II collagen, TGF‑β3 and SOX‑9 immunostaining). Using the above grading systems to quantify the extent of repair, histological quantification and macro quantification of joint tissue repair showed that the Nar/BMSCs group displayed repair after treatment in comparison to the untreated Mod group. Among the injury model groups (Mod, Nar, BMSCs and Nar/BMSCs), the Nar/BMSCs group displayed the highest degree of morphological repair. The results of histological and immunohistochemical staining of the repaired region of the joint defect indicated that the BMSCs had a satisfactory effect on the repair of the joint structure but had a poor effect on the repair of cartilage quality. The Nar/BMSCs group displayed satisfactory therapeutic effects on both repair of the joint structure and cartilage quality. The expression level of type‑II collagen was high in the Nar/BMSCs group. Additionally, staining of TGF‑β3 and SOX‑9 in the Nar/BMSCs group was the strongest compared with that of any other group in the present study. Naringin and/BMSCs together demonstrated a more efficient repair effect on articular cartilage defects in rabbit knees than the use of either treatment alone in terms of joint structure and cartilage quality. One potential mechanism of naringin action may be through activation and continuous regulation of the TGF‑β superfamily signaling pathway, which can promote BMSCs to differentiate into chondrocytes.

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