Factors affecting osteogenesis and chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in osteoarthritis

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease that often involves progressive cartilage degeneration and bone destruction of subchondral bone. At present, clinical treatment is mainly for pain relief, and there are no effective methods to delay the progression of the disease. When this disease progresses to the advanced stage, the only treatment option for most patients is total knee replacement surgery, which causes patients great pain and anxiety. As a type of stem cell, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have multidirectional differentiation potential. The osteogenic differentiation and chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs can play vital roles in the treatment of OA, as they can relieve pain in patients and improve joint function. The differentiation direction of MSCs is accurately controlled by a variety of signaling pathways, so there are many factors that can affect the differentiation direction of MSCs by acting on these signaling pathways. When MSCs are applied to OA treatment, the microenvironment of the joints, injected drugs, scaffold materials, source of MSCs and other factors exert specific impacts on the differentiation direction of MSCs. This review aims to summarize the mechanisms by which these factors influence MSC differentiation to produce better curative effects when MSCs are applied clinically in the future.

Identification of novel potential drugs for the treatment and prevention of osteoarthritis

“…Among them, Dex stands out as a glucocorticoid anti-inflammatory drug with clinical applications in knee OA treatment. It offers short-term pain relief and functional improvement, but prolonged use may entail specific side effects and potentially exacerbate OA symptoms [ 33 ]. Estradiol, an estrogen variant, exhibits associations with structural changes linked to knee OA in women.…”

Cartilage-Specific Gene Expression and Extracellular Matrix Deposition in the Course of Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Chondrogenic Differentiation in 3D Spheroid Culture

“…Mélou et al, using adult dental pulp MSCs, demonstrated that a spheroid model ensures higher expression of chondrogenesis markers compared to monolayer or pellet culture [ 21 ]. By reviewing the reported clinical trials, Peng et al found that osteoarthritis cell-based therapy translational research is mostly limited to bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMMSCs), ATMSCs, and WJMSCs [ 22 ]. BMMSCs are known to have high chondrogenic potential and are efficient in the stimulation of articular cartilage regeneration [ 23 ], but the harvesting of MSCs from bone marrow is an invasive procedure prone to complications.…”

Magnetic Nanoemulsions for the Intra-Articular Delivery of Ascorbic Acid and Dexamethasone

“…Dexamethasone was previously found to promote MSC chondrogenic differentiation [32], a process reportedly suppressed in dexamethasone-free cultures [33] acting by increasing proteoglycan and collagen type II content. Dexamethasone may act as a promoter of key masters of differentiation (such as Runx2 and Noggin) in a context-dependent manner [34]. In the case where ADSCs were preconditioned with MNEs, significantly higher chondrogenesis was detected for both MNEs cargo types compared to non-treated controls.…”