Advances of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis(OA), a common chronic degenerative joint disease, rises gradually with age, which seriously affects the quality of life of middle-aged and elderly patients. Currently, the therapeutic medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs)and analgesics might improve OA symptoms, but cannot prevent the development of OA. The active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)have unique advantages in the treatment of OA. This article reviews the research progress of active ingredients of TCM in the prevention and treatment of OA reported by domestic and foreign journals in the past five years from the aspects of inhibition of the secretion of inflammation-related factors, improvement of cartilage matrix synthesis and catabolic imbalance, inhibition of chondrocyte apoptosis, promotion of chondrocyte proliferation, and regulation of estrogen levels, with an attempt to provide a theoretical basis for the development of new drugs for OA.