骨关节炎是一种影响患者生活质量的慢性退行性关节疾病,其病理特点主要为关节软骨的变性、破坏和功能丧失。关节软骨作为关节中最重要的结构之一,是一种由分布稀疏的软骨细胞合成细胞外基质所组成的无血管组织。软骨细胞凋亡是软骨细胞程序性死亡的方式之一,在正常的生理过程中,软骨细胞的增殖和凋亡维持着一个动态的平衡,共同保护关节软骨的稳态,但在OA进程中,组织受损后相关细胞因子的刺激会引起软骨细胞增殖和凋亡的失衡,导致软骨过度凋亡,进而导致软骨的降解和退化。在临床上,中医药及其相关治疗方法仍然是国内治疗骨关节炎的主要手段之一,中药单体作为从传统中草药中提取得到的生物活性化合物,得益于其方便服用的特性和更精确的疗效逐渐得到人们的认可。因此本综述以中药单体抑制软骨细胞凋亡涉及的信号通路为切入点,系统检索了国内外相关研究并进行筛选总结,分析中药单体治疗骨关节炎中软骨细胞凋亡的相关信号通路作用机制,为骨关节炎的药物治疗提供了新选择。

Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disorder that adversely affects the quality of life of patients. Its pathological characteristics mainly involve the degeneration, destruction, and functional loss of articular cartilage. As one of the most crucial structures in the joint, articular cartilage is an avascular tissue composed of extracellular matrix synthesized by sparsely distributed chondrocytes. Chondrocyte apoptosis is one of the programmed cell death modalities of chondrocytes. During the normal physiological process, the proliferation and apoptosis of chondrocytes maintain a dynamic equilibrium, jointly safeguarding the homeostasis of articular cartilage. However, in the OA process, the stimulation of related cytokines after tissue damage induces an imbalance between chondrocyte proliferation and apoptosis, resulting in excessive chondrocyte apoptosis and subsequently leading to the degradation and degeneration of cartilage. Clinically, traditional Chinese medicine and its related therapeutic approaches remain one of the principal means for treating osteoarthritis in China. The monomer components of traditional Chinese medicine, which are bioactive compounds extracted from traditional herbal medicines, have gradually gained recognition thanks to their convenient administration and more precise therapeutic effects. Therefore, this review takes the signaling pathways involved in the inhibition of chondrocyte apoptosis by monomer components of traditional Chinese medicine as the entry point, systematically retrieves and screens relevant studies at home and abroad in the past five years, and analyzes the mechanism of action of related signaling pathways in the treatment of chondrocyte apoptosis in osteoarthritis by monomer components of traditional Chinese medicine, providing new options for the pharmacological treatment of osteoarthritis.

辽宁省科学技术厅项目应用基础研究计划（2022JH2/101300095）：基于脏象理论“肝主筋， 肾主骨”探究补正续骨丸通过Nrf2/GPX4调控骨关节炎软骨细胞铁死亡机制，负责人：邰东旭；辽宁省科学技术厅项目应用基础研究计划（2023JH2/101700222）：负载桃叶珊瑚苷和SMT的ZIF-8纳米颗粒靶向骨关节炎滑膜巨噬细胞代谢重编程的效应研究，负责人：康斯文