title: Therapeutic effects of PG201, an ethanol extract from herbs, through cartilage protection on collagenase-induced arthritis in rabbits.
abstract: In order to assess the therapeutic effects of PG201 (an ethanol extract from herbs) on osteoarthritis, we investigated whether PG201 could suppress the disease progression of collagenase-induced arthritis (CNIA) in rabbits. The right knees of rabbits were injected intra-articularly with collagenase, and the rabbits were orally treated with distilled water (DW), PG201 (200 mg/kg) or diclofenac (DCF, 10 mg/kg) once a day for 8 weeks. Oral administration of PG201 significantly suppressed the stiffness and bone space narrowing. Cartilage erosion and GAG release (p<0.01) were considerably reduced in the knee joints. As well, the mRNA expression of matrix degradation enzymes including MMP-1, -3, and -13 was decreased. On the contrary, the concentrations of TIMP-2 in the synovial fluids were considerably amplified in the PG201 treated group (p<0.01), but not in the DCF treated group. The pathologic inflammatory molecules involved in cartilage destruction such as IL-1beta, PGE2, and NO were also diminished by PG201. Taken together, these results indicate that PG201 has therapeutic effects on CNIA through the prominent protection of cartilage. PG201 indeed has great potential as a form of treatment for osteoarthritis.
authors.affiliation: PanGenomics, Co. Limited, Biotechnology Incubating Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyoung Chul
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Eun Jin
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Eun Ran
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yeonran
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Suk Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Byoung Wook
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sunyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mirim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001169:Arthritis, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000187:drug effects*; D017364:Collagenases / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017931:DNA Primers; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000378:metabolism; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011817:Rabbits; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D010936:Plant Extracts; C476094:herbal extract PG201; D017364:Collagenases