Efficacy of serum-free cultured human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in mice.

Background: We investigated the efficacy of intra-articular injection of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) progression in the knee joint. Although many experimental studies of hUC-MSCs have been published, these studies have mainly used fetal bovine serum-containing cultures of hUC-MSCs; serum-free cultures generally avoid the shortcomings of serum-containing cultures and are not subject to ethical limitations, have a wide range of prospects for clinical application, and provide a basis or animal experimentation for clinical experiments.

Aim: To study the therapeutic effects of serum-free hUC-MSCs (N-hUCMSCs) in a mouse model of knee OA.

Methods: Fifty-five male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into six groups: The blank control group, model control group, serum-containing hUC-MSCs (S-hUCMSC) group, N-hUCMSC group and hyaluronic acid (HA) group. After 9 weeks of modeling, the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-1 were determined. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to observe the cartilage tissue, and the Mankin score was determined. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to determine the expression of collagen type II, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-13.

Results: The Mankin score and serum IL-1 and IL-1β and cartilage tissue MMP-1 and MMP-13 expression were significantly greater in the experimental group than in the blank control group ( < 0.05). Collagen II expression in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the blank control group ( < 0.05). The Mankin score and serum IL-1 and IL-1β and cartilage tissue MMP-1 and MMP-13 levels the experimental group were lower than those in the model control group ( < 0.05). Collagen II expression in the experimental group was significantly greater than that in the model control group ( < 0.05).

Conclusion: N-hUCMSC treatment significantly alleviate the pathological damage caused by OA. The treatment effects of the S- hUCMSC group and HA group were similar.