RESEARCH ARTICLE
Biological Effects of Phosphocitrate on Osteoarthritic Articular Chondrocytes
Yubo Sun*, Atiya M Franklin, David R Mauerhan, Edward N Hanley
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 62
Last Page: 74
Publisher ID: TORJ-11-62
DOI: 10.2174/1874312901711010062
Article History:
Received Date: 30/01/2017Revision Received Date: 06/03/2017
Acceptance Date: 08/04/2017
Electronic publication date: 31/05/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Phosphocitrate (PC) inhibits osteoarthritis (OA) in Hartley guinea pigs. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood.
Objective:
This study sought to examine the biological effect of PC on OA chondrocytes and test the hypothesis that PC may exert its OA disease modifying effect, in part, by inhibiting the expression of genes implicated in OA disease process and stimulating the production of extracellular matrices.
Method:
OA chondrocytes were cultured in the absence or presence of PC. Total RNA was extracted and subjected to microarray analyses. The effect of PC on proliferation and chondrocyte-mediated calcification were examined in monolayer culture. The effect of PC on the production of extracellular matrices was examined in micromass culture.
Results:
PC downregulated the expression of numerous genes classified in proliferation and apoptosis while upregulating the expression of many genes classified in transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) receptor signaling pathway and ossification. PC also downregulated the expressions of many genes classified in inflammatory response and Wnt receptor signaling pathways. Consistent with its effect on the expression of genes classified in proliferation, ossification, and skeletal development, PC inhibited the proliferation of OA chondrocytes and chondrocyte-mediated calcification while stimulating the production of extracellular matrices.
Conclusion:
PC may exert its OA disease modifying effect, in part, through a crystal-independent mechanism or by inhibiting the expressions of many genes implicated in OA disease process, and at the same time, stimulating the expression of genes implicated in chondroprotection and production of extracellular matrices.
