Induced Knee Osteoarthritis: Preventive Effects of Wharton-jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cell Conditioned Medium, Captopril and Losartan in Male Rats

Background: osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that affect different parts of a synovial joint leading to pain and stiffness. Methods: forty male rats (220 ± 20 g, aged 10-12 weeks), were randomly divided into eight groups ( n = 8). OA: anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) + PBS. OA+ Hyaluronic acid (HA): ACLT+ treatment with HA. OA+ Captopril (Cap): ACLT + treatment with Cap. OA+ Losartan (Los): ACLT + treatment with Los. OA+ Wharton-jelly mesenchymal stem cell conditioned medium (WJ): ACLT + treatment with WJ OA+ WJ+ Cap.: ACLT + treatment with WJ. OA+ WJ+ Los.: ACLT + treatment with WJ and losartan Sham: No ACLT+ PBS. Osteoarthritis was induced through transection of the anterior cruciate ligament of both knees in rats. Three months after treatment, the samples were harvested and evaluated by histopathological, radiological and ACE activity analyses. Result: Histopathological and radiological findings indicated significant differences between the WJ+Cap and WJ+Los treated groups with OA+Cap OA+Los, the control and OA+HA groups ( p ≤ 0 : 001). Significant differences were observed in the subchondral bone scores between WJ-CM+Cap, WJ+Los and WJ groups and OA+Cap, OA+Los, OA+HA groups ( p ≤ 0 : 001). compared to WJ group alone, co-treatment of WJ and renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors (WJ+Cap and WJ+Los) showed better results regarding matrix scores ( p ≤ 0 : 001). Conclusions: The group treated with WJ concomitant with RAS inhibitor drugs showed better outcomes than other groups in histopathological, radiological and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity evaluation.