Low-frequency whole-body vibration can enhance cartilage degradation with slight changes in subchondral bone in mice with knee osteoarthritis and does not have any morphologic effect on normal joints

PLOS ONE RESEARCH ARTICLE Low-frequency whole-body vibration can enhance cartilage degradation with slight changes in subchondral bone in mice with knee osteoarthritis and does not have any morphologic effect on normal joints a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Wang H, Zhang C, Zhu S, Gao C, Gao Q, Huang R, et al. (2023) Low-frequency whole-body vibration can enhance cartilage degradation with slight changes in subchondral bone in mice with knee osteoarthritis and does not have any morphologic effect on normal joints. PLoS ONE 18(8): e0270074. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0270074 Editor: Lin Han, Drexel University, UNITED STATES Haiming Wang ID1,2☯, Chi Zhang3,4,5☯, Siyi Zhu6,7, Chengfei Gao8,9, Qiang Gao6,7, Ridong Huang10, Sijia Liu6,7, Xiangyang Wei1,2, Huakai Zhang11, Quan Wei ID6,7*, Chengqi He ID6,7* 1 Rehabilitation Medicine Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China, 2 Center of Rehabilitation Engineering Technology Research, Henan Province, Zhengzhou, Henan, China, 3 Rehabilitation Medicine Department, The Affiliated Hospital Of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China, 4 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China, 5 Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan, China, 6 Rehabilitation Medical Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 7 Rehabilitation Medicine Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 8 Rehabilitation Medicine Department, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China, 9 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China, 10 Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Targeted Tracer Research and Development Laboratory, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 11 Medical College of Zhengzhou University of Industrial technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, China ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. * (QW); (CH) Abstract Received: June 13, 2022 Accepted: July 20, 2023 Published: August 17, 2023 Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81572231, 81972146) and the Project of the Science and Technology Department in Sichuan province (Grant No. 2019YJ0119). Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology Fund (2021YJ0463, 2021YFS0070). The Project of the Science and Technology Purposes To evaluate the effects of low frequency whole-body vibration (WBV) on degeneration of articular cartilage and subchondral bone in mice with destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM)induced osteoarthritis(OA) and mice with normal knee. Methods Ten-week-old C57BL/6J male mice received DMM on right knees, while the left knees performed sham operation. There were six groups: DMM, SHAM DMM, DMM+WBV,SHAM DMM+WBV, DMM+ NON-WBV and SHAM DMM+NON-WBV. After four weeks, the knees were harvested from the DMM and SHAM DMM group. The remaining groups were treated with WBV (10 Hz) or NON-WBV. Four weeks later, the knees were harvested. Genes, containing Aggrecan(Acan) and CollagenⅡ(Col2a1), Matrix Metalloproteinases 3 and 13 (MMP3,13), TNFα and IL6, were measured and staining was also performed. OA was graded with OARSI scores, and tibial plateaubone volume to tissue volume ratio(BV/TV), PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270074 August 17, 2023 1 / 17 PLOS ONE Department in Henan Provincial Department (Grant No. 22170112). The Joint project of Henan Provincial Health Commission (Grant No.LHGJ 20190252).The Natural Science Foundation of China-Henan Province (Grant No. 202300410388). Key Research Projects of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province(Grant No. 21A320041). Henan Medical Education Research Project (Grant No. Wjlx2020529). Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist Effect of whole-body vibrationfor mice with knee normal and osteoarthritis bone surface area to bone volume ratio (BS/BV), trabecular number(Tb.N) and trabecular thickness separation(TS) between groups were analyzed. Results Increased OARSI scores and cartilage degradation were observed after WBV. BV/TV, Tb.N and TS were not significant between the groups. Significant reductions were observed in MMP3, MMP13, Col2a1, Acan, TNFα and IL6 in the DMM+WBV compared to SHAM DMM +WBV group. BV/TV, BS/BV, Tb.N, TS and OARSI scores were not significantly changed in the left knees. IL6 expression in the SHAM DMM+WBV group was significantly increased compared with the SHAM DMM+ NON-WBV group, while Col2a1, Acan and MMP13 expression decreased. Conclusion WBV accelerated cartilage degeneration and caused slight changes in subchondral bone in a DMM-induced OA model. WBV had no morphologic effect on normal joints. Introduction Osteoarthritis (OA) [1], the most common form of arthritis worldwide, is characterized by pain, stiffness, swelling, and weakness of function, and is a leading cause of disability in the aged population, affecting any synovial joint, such as knee, hip, shoulder and hand. With increasing age and body weight, the prevalence of OA increases, causing a major burden on society [2]. Athough OA is caused by biological [3] and biomechanical factors [4], the specific pathogenic mechanism is still unclear and involves loss of cartilage and sclerosis of subchondral bone [5]. Due to the lack of curative treatment for OA, comprehensive therapies, including self-management and education, exercise, and weight loss, are employed to delay invasive surgical methods, such as joint replacement [1, 6]. Regulation of mechanical loading is central to the development of OA [7]. Many studies have previously demonstrated that decreased muscle strength around the knee joint is an important factor in the occurrence of knee OA [8], and strengthening the knee joint can prevent the progression of this disease [4, 9]. Therefore, biomechanical interventions and strength training are appropriate treatment modalities for all individuals with knee OA, as recommended by researchers [10] and the recent guidelines of the OA Research Society International (OARSI) [11, 12] and Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) [13, 14]. Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a popular exercise modality in sports, fitness [15] and physiotherapy, causing a specific myotatic reflex to induce muscle contraction and develop muscle strength and power [16–18]. This technique affects, the nervous system [19], periph (...truncated)