The Xiaogu San Attenuates Pain and Cartilage Damage in Rats with Monosodium Iodoacetate Induced Osteoarthritis

Methods: A total of 24 Sprague Dawley rats were evenly and randomly divided into three separate groups including the normal control (NC), OA and XGS groups. MIA (50 µL, 10 mg/mL) was injected into the left knee joints of the rats to induce OA. After 7 days, The rats of XGS group were given XGS (0.45 g) that was externally applied to the left knee joint, were fixed with gauze and continuously administered XGS for 28 days. Morphological changes in tissues and organs were examined using H&E staining. Biochemical indicators were measured using an automatic biochemical analyzer. Inflammatory cytokines were detected using ELISA kits and immunohistochemistry. RNA-based high-throughput sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to detect differential expression of mRNAs in normal and MIA–induced OA rats. Overall design: Detection of gene differential expression in cartilage tissues of normal mice and the monosodium iodoacetate induced osteoarthritis rat.