Abstract
Several plant polyphenols have been shown to reduce osteoarthritis symptoms due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. We investigated the effects of two different polyphenolic extracts (Belinal, Pycnogenol) and two different polyphenols (resveratrol, quercetin) on the chondrogenic potential of bone-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) from healthy donors and patients with osteoarthritis. Our main aim was to determine whether Belinal, a commercially available polyphenolic extract from silver fir (Abies alba L.) branches, has comparable chondrogenic potential with the other tested extract and the polyphenols under inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions. In our study, Belinal promoted significantly greater chondrogenesis compared to the untreated (p = 0.0289) and resveratrol-treated (p = 0.0468) MSCs from patients with hip osteoarthritis under non-inflammatory conditions. Under inflammatory conditions, chondrogenesis was significantly enhanced for MSCs treated with Belinal compared to the control (p = 0.0483). The other extract and the polyphenols did not show any significant effects on chondrogenesis under non-inflammatory or inflammatory conditions. None of the tested extracts and polyphenols showed significant effects on chondrogenesis in healthy donors, under either non-inflammatory or inflammatory conditions. Our data show that Belinal can boost the chondrogenesis of MSCs derived from patients with osteoarthritis, under both non-inflammatory and inflammatory conditions.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis is the most widespread, chronic, progressive and debilitating joint disease of the elderly population, and as such, it represents a huge socio-economic burden [1]
Our data show that Belinal can boost the chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) derived from patients with osteoarthritis, under both non-inflammatory and inflammatory conditions
We investigated whether the polyphenols in the Belinal extract can stimulate the in vitro chondrogenic potential of MSCs derived from patients with osteoarthritis
Summary
Osteoarthritis is the most widespread, chronic, progressive and debilitating joint disease of the elderly population, and as such, it represents a huge socio-economic burden [1]. Polyphenols represent a wide variety of compounds that are found in fruit, vegetables, red wine, tea, plant oils, cocoa and other sources Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties have been studied under many chronic inflammatory conditions, including osteoarthritis [13,14]. Belinal is a commercially available polyphenolic extract that is isolated from the branches of silver fir (Abies alba L.) It has shown higher antioxidant activity in vitro than that of resveratrol, ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxytoluene, but similar activity to epigallocatechin gallate [20]. Belinal has shown benefits in animal models of atherosclerosis [23,24], its antioxidant activity has not yet been investigated in osteoarthritis Based on these data, we investigated whether the polyphenols in the Belinal extract can stimulate the in vitro chondrogenic potential of MSCs derived from patients with osteoarthritis. This study provides evidence that Belinal can be used to boost the chondrogenic potential of MSCs from patients with osteoarthritis, and it provides the basis for future in vitro and in vivo studies of the treatment of patients with this debilitating disorder
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