Biomedical Research

Objective: Perthes' disease is one of the most common pediatric surgical disease and affects children's health seriously. Pathogenesis of Perthes' disease is associated with pressure overload and inflammation. Puerarin was proved with promising efficacy on adult surgical disease. Our study is aimed explore effect of puerarin on cartilage injury of juvenile rat.

Methods: BALB/C rats were randomly assigned into three groups, including control group (A group), saline-treated group (B group) and puerarin-treated group (C group). Every group contains 10 rats. Saline and puerarin were treated with intragastric administration for B group and C group, respectively (2.18 g/kg, twice a day, 4 w). Cartilage injury of juvenile rat model was established with Hulth method for B group and C group. Pathologic change of articular cartilage was assessed for three groups. Cellular activity was examined with MTT assays. Apoptosis was assessed with flow cytometry.

Results: Intact and smooth structure integrity of chondrocyte was observed in control group. Compared with saline-treated group, cartilage injury in puerarin-treated group was significantly alleviated, including reduced surface rupture, intact cell structure and relieving inflammation (P<0.05). Puerarin treatment significantly reduced the percentage of apoptosis and enhanced cell activity of chondrocyte (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Puerarin promotes rehabilitation of cartilage injury in juvenile rat model. Potential mechanism was that puerarin inhibited apoptosis and enhanced cell activity of chondrocyte.

Author(s): Chuangyi Zheng, Zhonglian Huang, Chunhua Peng, Zebin Ma, Yandan Zheng
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