Water in the knee
Particles attracting water molecules reduced inflammation in the knee joint of rats
Anastasia Kuznetsova-Fantoni, N+1
Chinese doctors have created a gel for the treatment of osteoarthritis, which consists of particles that attract water molecules to their surface. This design allows it to lubricate the surface of the joint, as well as reduce inflammation due to the anti-inflammatory drug that is part of the particles. The scientists successfully tested the gel on rats with osteoarthritis of the knee joint — compared to the control group, their cartilage was less inflamed and expressed more collagen after a month of treatment. An article about the invention was published in ACS Nano (Yang et al., Ice-Inspired Lubricated Drug Delivery Particles from Microfluidic Electrospray for Osteoarthritis Treatment).
With osteoarthritis, the joints become inflamed, and over the years, chronic inflammation deforms them so that they lose their mobility and functionality. The first manifestations of osteoarthritis may occur by the age of 40, but the disease reaches its peak in old age. It is possible to slow down the progress of the disease and improve its course with the help of timely treatment.
We talked about new methods of osteoarthritis therapy that doctors have developed in recent years. So American, Italian and Swiss surgeons transplanted cartilage of the nasal septum into the inflamed knee joint, and after a year the patients experienced much less pain when moving, and their joints became more mobile. In addition, scientists are testing artificial lubricant for the treatment of osteoarthritis, which improves sliding in the joint and reduces friction in it. In experiments, this method works quite successfully, as it affects one of the causes of joint deformation — a decrease in the amount of natural lubrication.
Chinese scientists led by Yuanjin Zhao from Southeastern University have also developed a treatment method aimed at improving sliding in the joint. They created a gel from small particles consisting of hyaluronic acid and methacrylic anhydride. The latter increases the lifetime of hyaluronic acid in the human body. The particles are coated with a substance called 2-methylacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine, which contains positively and negatively charged groups that attract water molecules to the surface of the particles, so that the particles become slippery. In addition, scientists loaded the particles with an anti-inflammatory drug to not only reduce friction in the joint, but also reduce inflammation.
The invention was tested on rats with induced arthritis of the knee joint. The animals were injected with a gel of hyaluronic acid and methacrylic anhydride particles into the joint, and the procedure was repeated two weeks later. Four weeks after the start of the experiment, a knee joint biopsy was taken from the rats for analysis. The experimental group (6 animals) was compared with the control group (6 animals) that did not receive treatment.
The experiment was successful. In rats injected with the therapeutic gel, the joint surface was less inflamed, chondrocytes produced more type II collagen and aggrecan, which are characteristic of a healthy joint (p<0.05).
Expression of aggrican (c) and type II collagen (d) in the joint of rats from the experimental (extreme orange column on the right) and control (blue column) groups. Figure from the article by Yang et al.
Before the drug gets into clinical trials, scientists will still have to prove that the developed gel is non-toxic to humans, as well as conduct additional tests on larger animals.
It was believed that people's joints could not regenerate spontaneously after injury, but American researchers found that this was not the case. They found out that the cartilage of the joints of the legs in adults can recover over time.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru