Antibiotic Pre-treatment to Reduce Joint Inflammation and Slow the Progression of PTOA, Study Suggests

Jan, 2021 - By WMR

It is evident that tear of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is agonizingly painful injury. Around 50% of these patients develop a secondary form of osteoarthritis, considered post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). However, according to a new study by the researchers of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the UC Davis Medical Center have reported to found that treatment with antibiotics prior to the injury might lessen the inflammation in the injured joint and slower the PTOA progression. In this research, researchers particularly focused on how lessening of the gut biome with antibiotics prior to injury hinders the development of osteoarthritis (OA) resulting from a painful joint injury.

Moreover, in this research study the team conducted a chronic antibiotic treatment regime in a mice model for six weeks prior to ACL rupture. Later, researchers did a microscopic examination six weeks after the injury and observed strong cartilage staining on the antibiotic-treated mice in comparison to the mice of the control group, thereby indicating slower disease progression.

Melanie Mendez, lead author stated, “What was surprising was that the mice pre-treated with antibiotics exhibited reduced levels of inflammation, and that the immune cells present in the joints were macrophages (M2) that are associated with healing.”

Moreover, researchers also reported that there was significant reduction in the expression of inflammatory genes in the injured joints thereby reducing the inflammation. The results conclude that this particular antibiotic regime exhibited beneficial effect on the health of injured and uninjured joints. Researchers concluded that further research is required to define if short-term antibiotic treatment have the potential to prevent PTOA or if antibiotic treatment after injury would have the same effect.