Human osteoarthritic chondrocytes exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF) and therapeutic application of musically modulated electromagnetic fields (TAMMEF) systems: a comparative study.

摘要

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease, characterized by matrixuddegradation and changes in chondrocyte morphology and metabolism. Literatureudreported that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can produce benefits in OA patients, udeven if EMFs mechanism of action is debated. Human osteoarthritic chondrocytesudisolated from femoral heads were cultured in vitro in bidimensional (2-D) flasks udand in three-dimensional (3-D) alginate beads to mimic closely cartilageudenvironment in vivo. Cells were exposed 30 min/day for 2 weeks to extremelyudlow-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF) with fixed frequency (100 Hz) and toudtherapeutic application of musically modulated electromagnetic field (TAMMEF)udwith variable frequencies, intensities, and waveforms. Cell viability wasudmeasured at days 7 and 14, while healthy-cell density, heavily vacuolized (hv)udcell density, and cluster density were measured by light microscopy only for 3-D udcultures after treatments. Cell morphology was observed for 2-D and 3-D cultures udby transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Chondrocyte exposure to TAMMEFudenhances cell viability at days 7 and 14 compared to ELF. Light microscopyudanalysis showed that TAMMEF enhances healthy-cell density, reduces hv-celluddensity and clustering, compared to ELF. Furthermore, TEM analysis showeduddifferent morphology for 2-D (fibroblast-like) and 3-D (rounded shape) cultures, udconfirming light microscopy results. In conclusion, EMFs are effective and safeudfor OA chondrocytes. TAMMEF can positively interfere with OA chondrocytesudrepresenting an innovative non-pharmacological approach to treat OA.