Attenuation of Knee Osteoarthritis Progression in Mice through Polarization of M2 Macrophages by Intra-Articular Transplantation of Non-Cultured Human Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cells.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs) are non-cultured heterogeneous or mixed populations of cells obtained from adipose tissue by collagenase digestion. The injection of ADRCs have been tried clinically for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of intra-articular transplantation of human ADRCs on OA progression in mice and the effect of ADRCs on macrophage polarization. In in vivo experiments, BALB/c-nu mice with knee OA received intra-articular transplantation of either phosphate buffered-saline or human ADRCs. OA progression was evaluated histologically and significantly attenuated in the ADRC group at both four and eight weeks postoperatively. The expression of OA-related proteins in the cartilage and macrophage-associated markers in the synovium were examined by immunohistochemistry. The numbers of MMP-13-, ADAMTS-5-, IL-1β-, IL-6- and iNOS-positive cells significantly decreased, and type II collagen- and CD206-positive cells were more frequently detected in the ADRC group compared with that in the control group. In vitro co-culture experiments showed that ADRCs induced macrophage polarization toward M2. The results of this study suggest that the intra-articular transplantation of human ADRCs could attenuate OA progression possibly by reducing catabolic factors in chondrocytes and modulating macrophage polarization.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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