Cyclin D1 Gene Silencing Promotes IL‐1β‐Induced Apoptosis in Rat Chondrocytes

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of cyclin D1 gene silencing on cell proliferation and apoptosis of interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β)‐induced osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes. Chondrocytes from healthy sprague‐dawley rats were divided into blank, OA model (chondrocytes underwent IL‐1β inducement), OA trial (chondrocytes underwent IL‐1β inducement with cyclin D1‐shRNA treatment), and negative control (NC; chondrocytes underwent IL‐1β inducement and control‐shRNA treatment) groups. Cell proliferation was assessed by CCK‐8 assay, and cell cycle and apoptosis by flow cytometry. qRT‐PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect cyclin D1 and apoptosis‐related factors expression levels. Chondrocyte proliferation increased after 72–96 h after incubation. The OA trial group exhibited reduced cell proliferation at 48, 72, and 96 h after treatment. The OA model, OA trial, and NC groups all contained more cells arrested in G1 phase and had higher apoptosis rates than the blank group. Additionally, the OA trial group contained more cells arrested in G1 phase, with increased apoptosis rates compared to the OA model and NC groups. The OA model group had lowest expression of cyclin D1 whereas the blank group contained the highest among the four groups. qRT‐PCR also showed that the OA model, OA trial, and NC groups all had increased expression levels of Bax and reduced expression levels of Bcl‐2 and P53 compared to the blank group, whereby by the OA group had the most significant change. The combined evidence in our study shows that cyclin D1 gene silencing suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis of rat chondrocytes in IL‐1β‐induced OA. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 290–299, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The combined evidence in our study shows that cyclin D1 gene silencing suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis of rat chondrocytes in IL‐1β‐induced OA.