Effect of exercise, ozone and mesenchymal stem cells therapies on expression of IL-10 and TNF-α in the cartilage tissue of overweight rats with knee osteoarthritis

Introduction: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common type of articular disorder worldwide. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) are considered as an essential regulator contributing to inflammation and knee OA pathogenesis. In this study, effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), ozone (O3) and exercise training were considered on IL-10 and TNF-α expression in rats with knee OA. Materials and Methods: Surgical method was applied to induce knee OA in rats. OA rats were randomly divided into patient, MSCs, ozone, and exercise groups. Rats in MSCs group received intraarticularly injection of 1×106 cells/kg. Rats in ozone group received O3 at the concentration of 20μg/ml, once weekly for 3 weeks. Rats in exercise group were trained on rodent treadmill for three times per week. 48 hours after the final exercise training, cartilage tissues were isolated and expression of IL-10 and TNF-α was considered using RT-PCR. Results: Ozone therapy significantly increased the expression of IL-10 compared to the patient (3.12-folds; p=0.031), MSCs (2.78-fold; p=0.042) and exercise (4.64-fold; p=0.034) groups. The patient group had significantly higher expression of TNF-α compared to the control (32.27-fold; p=0.000), MSCs (1.58-fold; p=0.001) and ozone (3.02-fold; p=0.000) groups. MSCs and ozone therapies significantly decreased TNF-α expression compared to the patients (p=0.001 and p=0.000, respectively) and exercise (p=0.042 and p=0.000, respectively) groups; however, ozone therapy was significantly more effective than MSCs therapy (p=0.007). Conclusion: Ozone therapy was significantly more effective than exercise and MSCs therapy to improve knee OA in rats.