Treadmill and Wheel Exercise Protect against Knee Osteoarthritis in Monosodium Iodoacetate-Induced Knee Osteoarthritis by Inhibiting the ROS-Mediated Apoptosis Pathway in Mice

Abstract

Purpose: The current study evaluated treadmill and wheel exercise as potential treatments for osteoarthritis (OA) in an animal model, and investigated the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated apoptosis pathway in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) models. Methods: We used male BALB/c mice to establish a KOA model, and divided the mice into four groups: (1) Control (normal saline);(2) KOA (monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) induced);(3) KOA with treadmill exercise (treadmill + KOA);And (4) KOA with wheel exercise (wheel + KOA). Safranin O staining, Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining, western blot, and ELISA assays were utilized to explore the influence of treadmill and wheel exercise in KOA. Results: Our results revealed that, compared with the control group, the KOA groups showed severe damage to joint cartilage and enhanced numbers of osteoclasts as well as chondrocyte apoptosis-related protein levels of caspase-3 and Bcl-2-associated X protein (BAX), but downregulated the Bcl-2 protein expression. However, treatment with treadmill or wheel exercise alleviated chondrocyte apoptosis and decreased ROS production in mice with KOA. Conclusions: Our data showed that treadmill and wheel exercise protects against chondrocyte apoptosis by regulating the ROS-mediated apoptosis pathway in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) models.