Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell derived exosomes delay the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis through cartilage protection
Huajun, Ling, Wang Qiyou, Lin Weiwen, and Luo Penggang. "Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell derived exosomes delay the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis through cartilage protection." Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research 25, no. 31 (2021): 4964.
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint degenerative disease. At present, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells have been used in the treatment of osteoarthritis. However, compared with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell derived exosome transplantation has more advantages, such as non-immunogenicity, non-tumorigenicity, convenient storage and transportation. OBJECTIVE: To explore the protective effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell exosomes on osteoarthritis. METHODS: (1) SD rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were extracted and identified by cell morphology and flow cytometry. Exosomes in the cell supernatant were extracted by ultracentrifugation and identified by transmission electron microscopy, particle size and western blot assay. (2) Primary costal chondrocytes were extracted from suckling rats and cocultured with fluorescently labeled exosomes for 12 hours. The phagocytosis of chondrocytes was observed. In vitro chondrocyte damage was induced by interleukin-1β. PBS (100 μL) containing 50 μg exosomes was added for 24 hours. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13 and type II collagen fiber α1 protein was detected by immunofluorescence to evaluate the protective effect of exosomes on injured chondrocytes. (3) The rat model of osteoarthritis was induced by iodoacetic acid in vivo. Exosomes were injected into the joint cavity, and the changes of joint structure of osteoarthritis were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and safrane-fast green staining. The expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13 and type II collagen fiber α1 protein was measured by immunohistochemical staining to evaluate the protective effect of exosomes on cartilage in vivo. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The extracted primary cells showed a typical fusiform shape and arranged radially. The extracted cells highly expressed CD73 and CD105, but slightly expressed CD45, CD34 and CD3. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the obtained particles showed a typical saucer-like morphology. The particle size was less than 100 nm. Meanwhile, nanoparticles showed positive expression of ALIX and HRS protein. (2) Typical red-stained particles could be observed in chondrocytes, which confirms that exosomes could be taken up by chondrocytes, and exosomes could promote chondrocyte type II collagen fiber α1 protein expression, but inhibit the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13, which confirmed that exosomes could attenuate the damage effect of interleukin-1β on chondrocytes. (3) Exosomes could promote the morphological recovery of damaged articular cartilage and the up-regulate type II collagen fiber α1 expression, while inhibited the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13, which also confirmed that exosomes can alleviate the effects of iodoacetic acid on articular cartilage damage. (4) Above findings results indicate that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell exosomes delay the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis through a chondroprotective mechanism.