The Mechanism of Action of Yi Medicine Leontopodium franchetii in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis in Rats

Objective: To study the effect and mechanism of tiacon of Yi medicine L. franchetii on osteoarthritis in rats, and to provide relevant evidence for the development and research of Fireweed. Me-thods: 60 male SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups of 10 rats each, namely, the blank control group, the model group, the positive drug (3.0 g/kg of Voltaline cream) group, and the L. franchetii low, medium, and high dose (1.2 g of raw drug/kg, 2.4 g of raw drug/kg, and 4.8 g of raw drug/kg) groups, and were modeled by injecting 0.2 mL of 6% papain solution. Observe the appearance of joints and hairs with the naked eye after 4 weeks; observe the HE-stained pathological sections of cartilage tissues under light microscope; the levels of TNF-α and IL-1 β in rat cartilage tissues were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the levels of MMP13 and SOX-9 genes in rat cartilage tissues were measured by immunohistochemistry. Result: Compared with the blank group, the model group had severe joint redness and swelling, and the levels of inflammatory factors IL-1 β and TNF-α , the expression of MMP13 gene increased significantly ( P < 0.01), and the expression of SOX-9 gene decreased significantly ( P < 0.05) in the synovial tissue of rats in each dose group of L. franchetii ; compared with the model group, the TNF-α content and MMP13 gene expression level in the synovial tissue of rats in each dose group of L. franchetii were significantly decreased ( P < 0.01), the IL-1 β content in the low and high dose groups of L. franchetii was significantly decreased ( P < 0.05), and the SOX-9 gene expression level in the high dose group of L. franchetii was significantly increased ( P < 0.05), but the rest of the content differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The external application of L. franchetii drug has a joint-protective effect on the cartilage tissue of rats and has a certain repair function on the cartilage tissue, which can relieve the disease of osteoarthritis.