Compressive loading improves the effect of insulin-like growth factor-1 in promoting type II collagen formation in bovine cartilage explants

Abstract

Purpose: Would effective disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs) already be available to patients if there was a greater understanding of how a potential DMOAD interacts with the mechanical stimulation of the human knee? Compressive loading at physiological levels is believed to play a role in maintaining a healthy homeostasis in cartilage tissue turnover and, thus, may be essential to consider when developing drugs aiming to alter cartilage structure. While the exact pathways of mechanotransduction are yet to be elucidated, it is clear that loading of cartilage affects the formation of matrix proteins and proteases.