Dietary fiber may benefit chondrocyte activity maintenance Provisionally Accepted

song X. Wang^1* Ju Yang^1* Ying Wu² jie x. Li² Hao Meng¹ Ying Wang² Peng Sheng² ning Y. Dong²

• ¹Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, China
• ²Wuxi Medical College, Jiangnan University, China

The understanding of the link between the gut-bone axis is growing yearly, but the mechanisms invol ved are not yet clear. Our study analyzed the role of Sestrin2(SESN2)pathway in the gut-bone axis.W e established an osteoarthritis (OA) model in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats using the anterior cruciate li gament transection (ACLT) procedure, followed by a dietary intervention with varying levels of dieta ry fibre content for 8 weeks. By 16S rRNA sequencing of the gut microbiota, we found that high diet ary fiber(HDF) intake could significantly increase the Bacillota-dominant gut microbiota. Meanwhil e, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and histological analysis showed that intervention wi th HDF could reduce the degree of bone and joint lesions and inflammation. We hypothetise that HD F increased the dominant flora of Bacillota, up-regulated the expression of SESN2 in knee joint, and reduced gut permeability, thereby reducing systemic inflammatory response and the degree of bone a nd joint lesions. Therefore, the present study confirms that changes in gut microbiota induced by incr eased dietary fibre intake delayed the onset of OA by promoting up-regulation of SESN2 expression at the knee joint to maintain chondrocyte activity and reduce synovial inflammation.