Secretome injection effect on microscopic characteristics of cartilage, synovial membrane and subchondral bone in wistar rat knee osteoarthritis model

The age-related degenerative joint disease known as osteoarthritis (OA) is typified by a gradual deterioration of cartilage. Once damaged, it is hard for joint cartilage to recover. The secretome is a factor secreted by cells, tissues, or organisms into the extracellular cavity under certain conditions and at a certain time. Studies have shown that injecting secretome into an OA knee can accelerate and stimulate cartilage repair. However, the evidence supporting this claim is limited. This study aims to analyze the effect of secretome injection on the microscopic characteristics of joint cartilage tissue, synovial membrane tissue, and subchondral bone tissue in experimental animals with osteoarthritis. An in vivo experimental study on the Wistar Rat was carried out. To create osteoarthritic conditions, type VII collagenase from Sigma-Aldrich was injected. A total of twenty Wistar rats were divided into two groups: control group and secretome-injected group (cartilage-derived secretome). Each group consisted of 10 rats. After 21 days, the experimental animals were terminated for microscopic analysis of cartilage, synovial, and subchondral bone tissues. The two groups were then statistically compared. It was found that cartilage erosion, subchondral bone erosion, and synovial membrane damage were significantly worse in the control group (p<0.05). It has been discovered that injecting secretome has a positive and protective effect on joints affected by osteoarthritis (OA). The administration of secretome on the osteoarthritic knee was found to be significantly protective, resulting in less damage to cartilage, synovial membrane, and subchondral bone tissue.