Proper Physical Exercise may be in Favour of Joint Health: Mechanical Stress in Combination with Verapamil can Raise the Production of Type II Collagen and Suppress the Production of MMP-1, MMP-13 in Human Osteoarthritic Chondrocyte/Agarose Constructs.

Objective: To Investigate the effect of mechanical stress and verapamil on type collagen synthesis in human Osteoarthritic chondrocyte/agarose constructs, and whether these two factors interactively promote type collagen synthesis. Design: Mechanical stress of 24 kPa was applied to osteoarthritic chondrocyte/agarose constructs for 0.5 h, 1 h and 2 h. Pre-stress treatment with 40 μmol/L verapamil was added and used to test whether it can interactively influence type collagen metabolism. RT-PCR, ELISA and Western Blot were performed to measure the expression of MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-13 and type collagen. Statistical significance was assessed by ANOVA test. Results: Mechanical stress of 24 kPa resulted in a time-dependent increasing of the production of type collagen while decreasing of MMP-1, MMP-13 from chondrocytes, but no significant trend was observed in the expression of MMP-3. Whether or not combined with mechanical stress, verapamil (40 μmol/L) can inhibit the expression of MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 (P<0.05), and promote the expression of type collagen (P<0.05). However, mechanical stress can enhance its anabolic effects on type collagen than verapamil alone. Conclusions: Mechanical stress, either independently or in combination with verapamil treatment, could raise the production of type collagen in human osteoarthitic chondrocytes in this study predict that proper protective effect for Articular cartilage in healthy Population