Effects of electromagnetic fields on the metabolism of lubricin of rat chondrocytes.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can improve pain, stiffness and physical function in osteoarthritis (OA) patients and have been proposed for the treatment of OA. However, the precise mechanisms involved in this process are still not fully understood. In the present study, we investigated the effects of exposure for different durations with 75 Hz, 2.3 mT sinusoidal EMFs (SEMFs) on the metabolism of lubricin of rat chondrocytes cultured in vitro. Our results showed that SEMFs exposure promoted lubricin synthesis in a time-dependent manner, and the expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 was also enhanced after SEMFs treatment. The up-regulation effect of the expression of lubricin under SEMF was partly reduced by SB431542, an inhibitor of TGF-RI kinase. The Smad pathway was also investigated in our study. Smad2 synthesis was higher in EMF-exposed condition than in controls, whereas no effects were observed on inhibitory Smads (Smad6 and Smad7) production. Altogether, these data suggest that SEMF exposure can promote lubricin synthesis of rat chondrocytes in a time-dependent manner and that the TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway plays a partial role.
['Wang|Wei|W|', 'Li|Wenkai|W|', 'Song|Mingyu|M|', 'Wei|Sheng|S|', 'Liu|Chaoxu|C|', 'Yang|Yong|Y|', 'Wu|Hua|H|']
D000818:Animals D049109:Cell Proliferation D002470:Cell Survival D002478:Cells, Cultured D019902:Chondrocytes D004574:Electromagnetic Fields D005786:Gene Expression Regulation D006023:Glycoproteins D008297:Male D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases D012333:RNA, Messenger D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley D000077293:Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type I D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta D015398:Signal Transduction D051785:Smad Proteins D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta
lubricin Chondrocytes Osteoarthritis (OA) TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway sinusoidal electromagnetic fields (SEMF)