Objective To investigate the protective effect of Yishen Juanbi Pill on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rats by interfering with NLRP3/NF-κB/Caspase-1 signal pathway, and to analyze its effect on pyroptosis related proteins. Methods Ninety SPF SD rats were randomly divided into blank group, model group, positive control group, and low, middle and high dose of Yishen Juanbi Pill groups, with 15 rats in each group. Rats in the blank group was not treated. Rats in the other groups were intervened after preparing the rat model of knee osteoarthritis. The knee joint diameter and toe volume of 6 groups were compared before and after the intervention. The contents of IL-1β, IL-18, and VEGF in rat serum were detected with ELISA method. Histopathological changes of articular cartilage were observed with HE staining. TUNEL method was used to detect the apoptosis of articular chondrocytes in each group. The expressions of caspase-1 related proteins were analyzed with immunohistochemistry. The expression levels of NLRP3/NF-κB/Caspase-1 related proteins and mRNAs in each group were detected using Western blotting and qRT-PCR. Results After modeling, compared to those in the blank group, the diameter of knee joint and the volume of toe in the model group increased significantly, and the contents of IL-1β, IL-18 and VEGF in serum increased significantly. The cells in cartilage tissue were in disorder, inflammatory infiltration appeared, and the degree of apoptosis increased. The expression levels of NLRP3/NF-κB/ Caspase-1 related proteins and mRNAs increased significantly (all P<0.05). Compared to those in the model group, the diameter of knee joint and toe volume of rats in the positive control group and the Yishen Juanbi Pill treatment group reduced significantly, the contents of IL-1β, IL-18, and VEGF in serum decreased, the inflammatory infiltration of chondrocytes improved, the degree of apoptosis reduced, and the expression levels of NLRP3/NF-κB/Casase-1 related proteins and mRNAs decreased significantly (all P<0.05). Among them, the high dose group of Yishen Juanbi Pill was significantly better than the low dose group (P<0.01). Conclusion Yishen Juanbi Pill effectively relieves the articular cartilage tissue damage of KOA rats, reduces the expression of inflammatory factors and the degree of cell apoptosis.. Its mechanism may be related to the regulation of the NLRP3/NF-κB/Caspase-1 signal pathway to reduce pyroptosis. |