Chondroprotective Activity ofMurraya exoticathrough Inhibitingβ-Catenin Signaling Pathway
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that affects millions of people. Currently, there is no effective drug treatment for it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the chondroprotective effects ofMurraya exotica(L.) on OA. The rat OA models were duplicated to prepare for separating OA chondrocytes, synovial fluid (SF), and serum containingM. exotica(50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg),M. exoticashowed the activity of decreasing the contents of TNF-αand IL-1βin SF and the chondrocyte apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. To investigate the probable mechanism, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were used to determine gene expression and protein profiles, respectively. The results reveal thatM. exoticacan downregulate mRNA and protein expressions ofβ-catenin and COX-2 and reporter activity significantly. Conclusively,M. exoticaexhibits antiapoptotic chondroprotective activity probably through inhibitingβ-catenin signaling.