Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Alleviates Intervertebral Disc Degeneration by Activating Sirt1-Autophagy Signaling Network

Yi Zheng; Liangwei Mei; Shengyou Li; Teng Ma; Bing Xia; Yiming Hao; Xue Gao; Bin Wei; Yitao Wei; Da Jing; Zhuojing Luo; Jinghui Huang

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2022.853872

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Alleviates Intervertebral Disc Degeneration by Activating Sirt1-Autophagy Signaling Network

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022 Mar 21:10:853872. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.853872. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yi Zheng¹, Liangwei Mei¹, Shengyou Li¹, Teng Ma¹, Bing Xia¹, Yiming Hao¹, Xue Gao², Bin Wei¹, Yitao Wei¹, Da Jing³, Zhuojing Luo¹, Jinghui Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopedics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
² Faculty of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.

Abstract

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is regarded as a major contributor to low back pain (LBP), causing serious economic burden on individuals and society. Unfortunately, there are limited effective treatment for IVD degeneration. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) is an economical and effective physical therapy method, with reduced side-effects. It offers certain protection to a number of degenerative diseases. Therefore, understanding the underlying mechanism of PEMF on IVD is important for improving the PEMF therapeutic efficiency. In this study, PEMF up-regulated extracellular matrix (ECM) related genes in degenerated nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. It also increased SIRT1 expression and promoted autophagy in degenerated NP cells. In contrast, the autophagy suppressor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) reversed the beneficial effect of PEMF on ECM production. Similarly, the SIRT1 enzyme activity suppressor EX 527 also inhibited the effect of PEMF on autophagy and ECM production in NP cells, thereby suggesting that PEMF regulated ECM related genes expression through SIRT1-autophagy signaling pathway. Lastly, PEMF significantly reduced IVD degeneration in a rat model of IVD degeneration in vivo. In summary, our study uncovers a critical role of SIRT1-dependent autophagy signaling pathway in ECM protection and thus in the establishment of therapeutic effect of PEMF on IVD degeneration.

Keywords: SIRT1; autophagy; extracellular matrix (ECM); intervertebral disc degeneration; pulsed electromagnetic fields.