Salvianolic Acid A Exhibits Anti-Inflammatory and Antiarthritic Effects via Inhibiting NF-κB and p38/MAPK Pathways

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA), a chronic joint disease, combines with massive inflammation and plays a vital role in cartilage degeneration. The main strategy in clinic is controlling inflammation, thereby treating osteoarthritis. Salvianolic acid A (SAA) is a type of phenolic acid, derived from a traditional chinese herbal medicine Danshen that is extensively used clinically.

Methods and results: We observed the anti-inflammatory and antiarthritic effects of SAA in IL-1β-stimulated cells. We found that SAA evidently decreased the expression of mainly inflammatory factors, exerted the remarkable effects of anti-inflammation and anti-arthritis. Furthermore, SAA inhibited the expression of Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP1, MMP13), and ADAMTS-5 and raised the synthesis of collagen II and aggrecan. Additionally, the results indicated that SAA gave rise to the effects by down-regulation of NF-κB and p38/MAPK pathways.

Discussion: Our study demonstrates that SAA may be a promising anti-inflammatory for the treatment of OA in clinic.

Keywords: MMPs; NF-κB pathway; Osteoarthritis; Salvianolic acid A.