The effect of umbilical cord blood mononucleated cells on knee osteoarthritis in rabbits

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of umbilical cord blood-mononuclear cells (UCB-MNC) on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) in rabbits and its possible mechanism. Methods The rabbit knee osteoarthritis model was prepared by anterior cruciate ligament (ACLT) method. Fifty New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into the Control group, Model group, sodium hyaluronate (SH) group, platelet rich plasma (PRP) group, and UCB-MNC group. Knee cavity injection was performed once a week for 5 consecutive weeks. The gross view of the knee joint, the cartilage morphology of the knee joint, and the structural changes of the knee joint in imaging were observed by behavior, gross shape of the knee joint, HE staining, and CT. The levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in rabbit knee fluid were detected by ELISA. Western blot and QRT-PCR were used to detect the expression of MMP-13 and COL-II protein and mRNA in knee cartilage. Results From the behavioral Lequesne MG scores, morphological HE staining Mankin's scores, the scores of model group were significantly higher compared with that of control group. The SH, PRP, and UCB-MNC group had sequentially lower scores compared to theModel group. From CT, KOA features were more pronounced in the model group compared to other groups, and there was a slight improvement in imaging knee osteoarthritis in the CB-MNC group compared to the SH and PRP groups. Compared with the control group, the Model group had increased levels of TNF-α,