Blocking Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Alleviates Osteoarthritis in Rats

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a chronic multiple degenerative bone and joint disease. The most common manifestations are damaged articular cartilage, thickening and sclerosis of subchondral bone, and osteophytes formation at the joint edge. This study will block the Wnt/β -catenin signaling pathway to observe its role on a rat model of osteoarthritis. In this experiment, rat osteoarthritis model was established by intra-articular administration of iodoacetic acid. The LF-3 treatment was started on the second day after modeling. Two weeks later, rat knee articular cartilage was collected. The morphology of cartilage was observed by HE, Safranin O and toluidine blue staining. The expression levels of TIMP-3, MMP-9 protein and mRNA were detected by western blot and real-time quantitative PCR. After blocking the Wnt/ β-catenin signaling pathway, TIMP-3 expression level was increased, MMP-9 expression was decreased, and cartilage damage was ameliorated. Blocking the Wnt/ β-catenin signal can reduce the degradation of matrix in cartilage tissue, thereby playing a protective role and helping the recovery of osteoarthritic rats.