Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial disease that is associated with inflammation in joints. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity and mechanism of morin on human osteoarthritis chondrocytes stimulated by IL-1β.
The levels of NO and PGE2 were measured by the Griess method and ELISA. The levels of MMP1, MMP3, and MMP13 were also measured by ELISA.
The results revealed that IL-1β significantly increased the production of NO, PGE2, MMP1, MMP3, and MMP13. Additionally, the increases were significantly attenuated by treatment with morin. Furthermore, IL-1β-induced NF-κB activation was suppressed by morin. In addition, the expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 were increased by morin and knockdown of Nrf2 could prevent the anti-inflammatory effects of morin.
In conclusion, this study suggested that morin attenuated IL-1β-induced inflammation by activating the Nrf2 signaling pathway.