Vitamin K2 ameliorates osteoarthritis by suppressing ferroptosis and extracellular matrix degradation through activation GPX4's dual functions

He Q, Lin Y, Chen B, et al. · Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy

The first study to test vitamin K2 itself against a cartilage endpoint: K2 raised subchondral bone mass and cartilage thickness, lowered OARSI scores and pain behaviour in rats, and in chondrocytes rescued ferroptosis and matrix degradation through the antioxidant enzyme GPX4 and the MAPK/NF-kB pathway.

Population

Rats with anterior cruciate ligament transection knee osteoarthritis and chondrocytes under oxidative stress

Intervention

Vitamin K2

Comparator

Untreated osteoarthritic animals and cells

Limitations

Rat surgical-osteoarthritis model with abstract-level dosing information; a mechanism entirely separate from matrix Gla protein carboxylation, which means it does not support the calcification story it is often filed under; not independently replicated.