Evaluation of unsulfated biotechnological chondroitin in a knee osteoarthritis mouse model as a potential novel functional ingredient in nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals

Osteoarthritis is a very disabling disease that can be treated with both nonpharmacologicaland pharmacological approaches. In the last years,pharmaceutical-grade chondroitin sulfate (CS) and glucosamine emerged assymptomatic slow-acting molecules, effective in pain reduction and improvedfunction in patients affected by osteoarthritis. CS is a sulfatedglycosaminoglycan that is currently produced mainly by extraction fromanimal tissues, and it is commercialized as a pharmaceutical-gradeingredient and/or food supplement. However, public concern on animalproduct derivatives has prompted the search for alternative non-extractiveproduction routes. Thus, different approaches were established to obtainanimal-free natural identical CS. On the other hand, the unsulfatedchondroitin, which can be obtained via biotechnological processes,demonstrated promising anti-inflammatory properties in vitro, inchondrocytes isolated from osteoarthritic patients. Therefore, the aim of thisstudy was to explore the potential of chondroitin, with respect to the betterknownCS, in an in vivo mouse model of knee osteoarthritis. Results indicate thatthe treatment with biotechnological chondroitin (BC), similarly to CS,significantly reduced the severity of mechanical allodynia in an MIA-inducedosteoarthritic mouse model. Decreased cartilage damage and a reduction ofinflammation- and pain-related biochemical markers were also observed.Overall, our data support a beneficial activity of biotechnological unsulfatedchondroitin in the osteoarthritis model tested, thus suggesting BC as a potentialfunctional ingredient in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals with the advantageof avoiding animal tissue extraction.