The effect of aerobic exercise combined with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on inflammatory biomarkers levels of the brain in a model of osteoarthritic rat

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that has many public health problems. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor alfa (TNF-α) are considered as the main factors regulating inflammation and pathology of knee osteoarthritis. This study was done to investigate the effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and aerobic training on inflammatory biomarkers (IL-10 and TNF- α) in the brain tissue of osteoarthritic rats.

In this experimental study, 48 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups (n=8 in each group) as follows: 1. Naive (healthy control), 2. Osteoarthritis (Ost), 3. Osteoarthritis + saline (Sal), 4. Osteoarthritis + mesenchymal cells (Mes), 5. Osteoarthritis + training (Tra), and 6. Osteoarthritis + training + mesenchymal cells (Tra + Mes). An essential aerobic exercise program was performed for eight weeks as follows:  Speed: 15-22 meters per minute; Slope: 0o for 25-64 minutes. Inflammatory biomarkers, including TNF-α and IL-10 cytokines, in the brain tissue of rats, were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

The combination of training and treatment with MSCs in the brain of osteoarthritic rats significantly increased the level of IL-10 in comparison with the use of MSCs or aerobic exercise alone. Moreover, the combined use of exercise and MSCs caused a significant decrease in TNF-α concentration.

It seems that the combined use of MSCs and eight weeks of aerobic exercise improves the concentration of inflammatory biomarkers in the brain of a rat model of osteoarthritis.