Ginkgolide B exerts anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective activity in LPS-induced chondrocytes

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of degenerative and chronic diseases of articular joints. Articular cartilage is an avascular tissue, and its primary cellular component is chondrocytes. The main characteristic of OA is non-classic inflammation and cartilage degeneration. Ginkgolide B (GB) is a component of Ginkgo biloba which has diverse bioactivities.The present study uses an in vitro experimental model to detect the underlying anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective effects of GB and provides a new way for future clinical therapy of OA.Rat chondrocytes were isolated, cultured and treated with 1 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and/or different concentrations of GB. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to test the cell viability of chondrocytes, and chondrocytes apoptosis was detected using a cell apoptosis kit. Collagen-II and aggrecan expression were detected by immunohistochemistry. Relative expression of genes was detected by real-time PCR and western blot.Ginkolide B did not inhibit chondrocyte proliferation, and ginkgolide B inhibited LPS induced matrixdegradation in chondrocytes. Ginkgolide B also reversed LPS-induced collagen-II and aggrecan decreased in chondrocytes via upregulated synthesis-related gene expression and downregulated matrix-degrading enzyme gene expression. Furthermore, we found that ginkgolide B significantly inhibited LPS-induced MAPK pathway activation.The results of our study suggest that ginkgolide B exerted anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective effects in LPS-induced chondrocytes, and might be an underlying therapy for OA afterwards.