Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Injured articular cartilage has a very limited self-repair ability. Extracorporeal shock wave may provide a method that has high-quality repair of articular cartilage defects and can achieve good late outcomes.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of extracorporeal shock wave on the proliferation of rabbit articular chondrocytes and type Ⅱ collagen expression.
METHODS: Normal rabbit knee joint chondrocytes were obtained by enzymatic digestion method. The cells were cultured, passaged, and then randomized into three experimental groups: A, B and C groups were given 0.5×105, 1.5×105 and 2.5×105 Pa extracorporeal shock wave intervention, respectively. The blank control received no intervention.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The cell growth curve in the group B at day 6 was higher than that in the other groups (P < 0.05). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that compared with the other groups, the absorbance of type Ⅱ collagen in the group B was significantly increased (P < 0.05). Reverse transcription PCR indicated that type Ⅱ collagen expression was enhanced obviously in the group B, as compared with the other groups (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the extracorporeal shock wave stimulation of appropriate energy intensity and frequency can significantly promote chondrocyte proliferation and type Ⅱ collagen expression.