Melatonin: Effects on Cartilage Homeostasis and Therapeutic Prospects in Cartilage-related Diseases

Xie WQ, Chen SF, Tao XH, Zhang LY, Hu PW, Pan WL, Fan YB, Li YS · Aging Dis

In chondrocytes and animal models, melatonin lowers reactive oxygen species and IL-1-beta-driven matrix metalloproteinases through a SIRT1-dependent pathway, and intra-articular melatonin reduced cartilage destruction in a rabbit osteoarthritis model with the effect reversed by SIRT1 inhibition or knockdown (Lim). It also promotes chondrogenic gene expression and differentiation in mesenchymal stromal cells under inflammatory conditions. Every study of melatonin in osteoarthritis the review cites is cell culture or animal; it names no human joint trial.

Population

Narrative review of melatonin's effects on cartilage homeostasis and its prospects in cartilage-related diseases

Intervention

n/a

Comparator

n/a

Limitations

Narrative review from Central South University and Zhejiang groups with Chinese public funding; no protocol. Its coverage of rheumatoid arthritis records melatonin acting both ways, and the osteoarthritis evidence it assembles is preclinical throughout.