To Investigate the Protective Effect of Tougu Xiaotong Jiaonang(透骨消痛胶囊) on Articular Cartilage from Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathway

Objective:To investigate the protective effect of Tougu Xiaotong Jiaonang(透骨消痛胶囊)on knee articular cartilage of rats from Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.Methods:Sixty healthy twomonth male SD rats were randomly divided into a normal control group,a model control group and a Tougu Xiaotong Jiaonang group(TXJ group),20 rats in each.The model control group and the TXJ group were given double knee joint cavity injection with 4% papain.After the osteoarthritis models were successfully established,the TXJ group was given Tougu Xiaotong Jiaonang 287.5 mg·kg~(-1),while the normal control group and the model control group were given the same dose of physiological saline.After 2 months of administration,the Western blot method was used to observe the expressions of ADAMTS-5,Wnt-4,β-catenin and MMP-13 in articular cartilage of three groups.Results:Compared with the normal control group,the expressions of ADAMTS-5,Wnt-4,β-catenin and MMP-13 in the model control group increased(P 0.05),while compared with the model group,the expressions of ADAMTS-5,Wnt-4,β-catenin and MMP-13 in the TXJ group decreased(P 0.05).Conclusion:The protective effect of Tougu Xiaotong Jiaonang on articular cartilage is correlated with the reduction of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway expression.