Effects of Angelicae Pubescentis and Loranthi Decotion on repairing knee joint cartilages in rats

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common orthopedics disease and its pathological changes at early stage are the damage and loss of articular cartilage. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription contains multiple components and has the unique advantages of the diversity of targets.We compared the traditional Chinese medical formulae (Angelicae Pubescentis and Loranthi decotion, APLD, or Duhuo Jisheng) with a western medicine (glucosamine sulfate, GS) to treat the rat arthritis models, and tracked the outcomes. METHODS: Thirty-two Wistar rats (weight 180 ± 10 g, 6-week-old) were randomly divided into four groups (eight for each): group A as normal control group (no surgery and no drug treatment), group B as SIA (surgery-induced arthritis) model control without drug treatment, group C as SIA model + APLD, and group D as SIA model + GS. Anterior cruciate ligament in the knee joint of both hind legs from each rat in groups B, C, and D was shown and cut off to establish the SIA model. After 6 weeks of the surgery, rats in group C or D were treated with APLD or GS, respectively, for 8 weeks. Bone X-ray examination, histological images, and determination of genes of collagen II and aggrecan were performed. At week 14, both knee joint gap and bone structure disappeared in rats of group B, but they were visible in rats of groups A, C, and D. RESULTS: Histological images revealed that the structure and composition of the knee joint cartilage were significantly degenerated in group B and improved in group C. Genes of collagen II and aggrecan were significantly increased in both group C and D. CONCLUSION: APLD or GS gavage treatment for knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rat models was effective on the proliferation of cartilage chondrocytes and the damaged knee joint tissue repairing, and the APLD showed slightly superior in general.