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As a chronic degenerative joint disease, the characteristics of osteoarthritis (OA) are degeneration of articular cartilage, subchondral bone sclerosis and bone hyperplasia. It has been reported that microRNA (miR)-186-5p serves a key role in the development of various tumors, such as osteosarcoma, non-small-cell lung cancer cells, glioma and colorectal cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of miR-186-5p in OA. Different concentrations of IL-1β were used to treat the human chondrocyte cell line CHON-001 to simulate inflammation, and CHON-001 cell injury was assessed by detecting cell viability, apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and the levels of TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-6. Subsequently, reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was performed to measure miR-186-5p expression. The results demonstrated that following IL-1β treatment, CHON-001 cell viability was suppressed, apoptosis was promoted, the caspase-3 activity was significantly enhanced and the release of TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-6 was increased. In addition, IL-1β treatment significantly upregulated miR-186-5p expression in CHON-001 cells. It was also identified that MAPK1 was a target gene of miR-186-5p, and was negatively regulated by miR-186-5p. miR-186 inhibitor and MAPK1-small interfering RNA (siRNA) were transfected into CHON-001 cells to investigate the effect of miR-186-5p on CHON-001 cell injury induced by IL-1β. The results demonstrated that miR-186 inhibitor suppressed the effects of IL-1β on CHON-001 cells, and these effects were reversed by MAPK1-siRNA. In conclusion, the present results indicated that miR-186-5p could attenuate IL-1β-induced chondrocyte inflammation damage by increasing MAPK1 expression, suggesting that miR-186-5p may be used as a potential therapeutic target for OA.

BackgroundThere are many different reasons why patients could be experiencing pain in the gluteal area. Previous studies have shown an association between radicular low back pain (LBP) and gluteal pain (GP). Studies locating the specific level responsible for gluteal pain in lumbar disc hernias have rarely been reported.MethodsAll patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in the Kanghua hospital from 2010 to 2014 were recruited. All patients underwent a lumbar spine MRI to clarify their LDH diagnosis, and patients were allocated to a GP group and a non-GP group. To determine the cause and effect relationship between LDH and GP, all of the patients were subjected to percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD).ResultsA total of 286 cases were included according to the inclusive criteria, with 168 cases in the GP group and 118 cases in the non-GP group. Of these, in the GP group, 159 cases involved the L4/5 level and 9 cases involved the L5/S1 level, while in the non-GP group, 43 cases involved the L4/5 level and 48 cases involved the L5/S1 level. PELD was performed in both groups. Gluteal pain gradually disappeared after surgery in all of the patients. Gluteal pain recrudesced in a patient with recurrent disc herniation (L4/5).ConclusionsAs a clinical finding, gluteal pain is related to low lumbar disc hernia. The L4/5 level is the main level responsible for gluteal pain in lumbar disc hernia. No patients with gluteal pain exhibited involvement at the L3/4 level.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-1204-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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