Comparison of cyclic compressive stimulation and proinflammatory cytokine stimulation of three-dimensional cultured human articular chondrocytes

Osteoarthritis is a multifactorial disease in which not only physical tissue damage but also persistent inflammation is thought to be one of the main causes. The qualitative differences between mechanical and inflammatory cytokine stimulation in the production of OA-related molecules are not fully understood, and the biological events that occur in cells when the two stimuli are applied simultaneously remain unresolved. Articular cartilage tissue is formed by relatively sparse cells surrounded by a rich extracellular matrix composed mainly of collagen and proteoglycans, and three-dimensional culture using hydrogels such as collagen gel has been frequently used to reproduce chondrocytes that are three-dimensionally bound to the surrounding extracellular matrix and to evaluate physiological responses. In this study, we aimed to compare the responses of 3D cultured articular chondrocytes to mechanical stimuli and inflammatory cytokine stimuli, to analyze the responses to the two stimuli when they occur simultaneously, and to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms involved. Three-dimensional culture of human articular chondrocytes was performed using a stiff atelocollagen sponge and atelocollagen gel, and analysis focused on changes in gene expression due to cyclic compression stimulation. The 3D tissue of human chondrocytes 13 hours after stimulation with IL-1β (10 ng / ml) was used as the IL-1β group. And the 3D tissue of human chondrocytes after 12 hours of stimulation with cyclic compressive loading (CCL) (40 kPa, 0.5 hz, 1 hour) was designated as the CCL group. The 3D tissue of human chondrocytes 12 hours after stimulation with IL-1β (10 ng / ml) and CCL (40 kPa, 0.5 hz, 1 hour) was used as the CCL+ IL-1β group. Each group was compared to a control sample that was cultured for 13 hours in static culture. Data are obtained with one donor, representative of results of three technical replicates.