Abstract
To investigate the effect of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) against osteoarthritis (OA) and preliminarily discuss the osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and RANK expression in a rat OA model. Thirty-six 6-week-old Male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated group(CON), OA-induction group(OA), COS intervention group(n=12/group). At 4 weeks after the operation, COS (50 ul) intervention weekily for consecutive 5 weeks. The OA and CON groups received an injection of 50 ul physiological saline. At death, 11 weeks following surgery, cartilage was harvested and total RNA and protein were extracted. Both the morphological changes of the cartilage were observed and harvested the total RNA and protein. Meanwhile, the expression of OPG, RANKL and RANK in cartilage were determined. The expression of OPG and RANKL were both enhanced in the cartilage of the OA model. Compared with the OA group, COS treatment improved the cartilage damage (both extent and grade). Furthermore, the COS group showed highly OPG and lower RANKL. Simultaneously, COS treatment upregulated the ratio of OPG/RANKL and downregulated the RANKL/RANK. Chitosan oligosaccharides may be used as a unique biological agent to prevent and treat osteoarthritis, and this effect is associated with modulation of the expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common joint disorders mainly affecting individuals over 60 years of age1
Chitosan oligosaccharides may be used as a unique biological agent to prevent and treat osteoarthritis, and this effect is associated with modulation of the expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand
Cartilage proteoglycan content assay performed using Safranin-O staining showed that the cartilage matrix was well preserved in the chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) groups, whereas a remarkable loss of proteoglycan was observed in the OA induction group
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common joint disorders mainly affecting individuals over 60 years of age. Significant progress has been made in the last few decades, the complete remission of this disease is not yet achieved. Significant progress has been made in the last few decades, the complete remission of this disease is not yet achieved3 This condition should be considered as a serious social problem. COS is the hydrolysed products of chitosan by chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis that composed of linear polymers of β-1-4-linked D-glucosamine (Figure 1). COS can effectively protect HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) against oxidative stress by H2O2 through regulation of p38 MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways, which might be of importance in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. COS was depolymerized with a special enzyme technology product resulting oligosaccharides of chitosan. It is hoped that the question will be resolved with our proposed approach
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