Stichopus chloronotus aqueous extract as a chondroprotective agent for human chondrocytes isolated from osteoarthitis articular cartilage in vitro.

Abstract

The HOC isolated from knee joint cartilage removed during surgery were cultured with SCAE for 7days. The effect of SCAE on anabolic and catabolic gene expression was verified by real-time PCR. Monolayer chondrocytes were stained with toluidine blue whereas sGAG, NO and PGE2 production in medium were analyzed by ELISA. The HOC cultured in various SCAE have polygonal morphology maintaining their chondrocytes characteristic. SAE supplementation tested was found to be effective pro-chondrogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative agents, as evidenced by upregulation of cartilage specific markers collagen type II, aggrecan core protein and sox-9 expression and downregulation of collagen type 1, IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-13, COX-2, iNOS and PAR-2 expression. The presence of SCAE in the culture was able to increase sGAG and reduce NO and PGE2 production significantly. These results suggested that SCAE demonstrated chondroprotective ability by suppressing catabolic activities, oxidative damage and effectively promoting chondrocytes growth.