Promotion and Mechanism of Acupotomy on Chondrocyte Autophagy in Knee Osteoarthritis Rabbits

• Published in: Chinese journal of integrative medicine 2024-09, Vol.30 (9), p.809-817
• Main Authors: Lu, Man, Meng, De-hong, She, Ze-yu, Wu, Xian, Xia, Shuai, Yang, Kai-ning, Liu, Cun-bin, Li, Tao, Yang, Yong-hui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402; 1993-0402
• DOI: 10.1007/s11655-024-3759-8

Objective To explore the effect of acupotomy intervention on autophagy of chondrocytes in rabbits with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and to determine the possible mechanisms of acupotomy to alleviate cartilage degeneration. Methods The modified Videman method was used to construct a KOA rabbit model. After modeling, 40 rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups by a random number table: control; KOA (model); KOA + acupotomy (acupotomy), and KOA + sham acupotomy (sham), 10 in each group. After a 3-week treatment course, the knee joint activity was determined by the modified Lequesne MG index. Hematoxylin-eosin staining staining was used to examine the morphological changes of chondrocytes. Autophagy of chondrocytes was observed by transmission electron microscopy. The surface morphology of cartilage tissue was observed by scanning electron microscope. The mRNA and protein levels of AMP kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin/Unc-51 (AMPK/mTOR/ULK1) signal pathway key proteins, autophagy-related factor Beclin-1 and microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B light chain 3 (LC3) in rabbit knee cartilage were assessed by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot, respectively. Results The modified Lequesne MG score of acupotomy group was significantly lower than that of model group ( P