A critical role for thrombin in regulating chondrocytes catabolism through RNA-Seq and experimental validation

Conclusions: Thrombin stimulated the proliferation and promoted the morphology transformation towards fibrotic chondrocytes. Thrombin improved the chondrocytes’ catabolism by regulating the expression of the key enzymes which were responsible for ECMsynthesis. Meanwhile thrombin increased the expression of MMPs and chemokines that aimed at extracellular ECM degradation.