Salvianolic acid B alleviates cartilage tissue damage in rat models with osteoarthritis

Objective To explore whether salvianolic acid B affects cartilage tissue damage, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in osteoarthritis rats. Methods A rat model of osteoarthritis was constructed, and rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, osteoarthritis group(anterior cruciate ligment transection, ACLT), nimesulide group, salvianolic acid B high (40 mg/kg), and low (10 mg/kg) dose salvianolic acid B group, and salvianolic acid B+HIF-1 activation group, with 12 rats in each group. The bone structure at the joints of the rats in each group was measured and analyzed by micro-CT machine; The histopathological changes of cartilage were observed by safranin fast green staining and Masson staining; The contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and the activity of inducible nitric oxide syn- thase (iNOS) in rats were measured; The expression levels of HIF-1, VEGF, matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13) and activated caspase-3 (cleaved c