抄録
Osteoarthritis (OA) is well known to be one of the most frequent rheumatic diseases observed mainly in elderly people. It is also recognized that OA is characterized by loss of articular cartilage and secondary bone as well as changes to the synovium, including marginal osteophyte formation and synovitis. Although chontroitin sulfate (CS) has been used frequently as a supplement for the treatment of OA, the mechanisms by which CS could favorably modify the clinical conditions of OA. The present study, therefore, was undertaken to analyze the possible therapeutic mode of action of CS on OA by examining the production of matrix metalloproteinases, which are important molecules in cartilage depletion, from synovial cells in vitro.Fibroblast were obtained from joint specimens of patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty for OA. Cells (1 x 105 cells/ml) were stimulated with 5.0 ng/ml IL-1βin the presence of various concentrations of CS for 24 h. MMP-1, 3 and 13 levels in culture supernatants were evaluated by ELISA. Addition of CS at more than 50.0 μg/ml into cell cultures could suppress the production of MMP-1, 3, and 13. However, the ability of cells to produce TIMP-1 and 2 was not interfered by CS, even when 100 μg/ml CS was added into cell cultures.These results strongly suggest that CS prevents tissue remodeling through the suppression of MMP production and results in favorable modification of the clinical condition of OA. [J Physiol Sci. 2006;56 Suppl:S239]
