TY - JOUR AB - Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease involving the whole joint that seriously reduces the living standards of individuals. Traditional treatments include physical therapy, administration of anti‑inflammatory and analgesic drugs and injection of glucocorticoids or hyaluronic acid into the joints. However, these methods have limited efficacy and it is difficult to reverse the progression of OA, therefore it is urgent to find new effective treatment methods. Immune microenvironment is significant in the occurrence and development of OA. Recent studies have shown that macrophages are important targets for the treatment of OA. Macrophages are polarized into M1 pro‑inflammatory phenotype and M2 anti‑inflammatory phenotype under stimulation of different factors, which release and regulate inflammatory response and cartilage growth. Accumulating studies have tried to alleviate OA by regulating macrophage homeostasis. The present study summarized the related studies, discuss the mechanism of various therapeutic reagents on OA, expound the molecular mechanism of drug effect on OA and attempted to provide clues for the treatment of OA. AD - Department of Orthopedics, Nantong City No 1 People's Hospital and Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226001, P.R. China Department of Orthopedic, Nantong Third People's Hospital, Nantong, Jiangsu 226003, P.R. China AU - Chen,Baisen AU - Hong,Hongxiang AU - Sun,Yuyu AU - Chen,Chu AU - Wu,Chunshuai AU - Xu,Guanhua AU - Bao,Guofeng AU - Cui,Zhiming DA - 2022/12/01 DO - 10.3892/etm.2022.11693 IS - 6 JO - Exp Ther Med KW - macrophages polarization osteoarthritis treatment cartilage PY - 2022 SN - 1792-0981 1792-1015 SP - 757 ST - Role of macrophage polarization in osteoarthritis (Review) T2 - Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine TI - Role of macrophage polarization in osteoarthritis (Review) UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11693 VL - 24 ER -