Hyperuricemic PRP in Tendon Cells

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is injected within tendons to stimulate healing. Metabolic alterations such as the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, or hyperuricemia could hinder the therapeutic effect of PRP. We hypothesise that tendon cells sense high levels of uric acid and this could modify their response to PRP. Tendon cells were treated with allogeneic PRPs for 96 hours. Hyperuricemic PRP did not hinder the proliferative actions of PRP. The gene expression pattern of inflammatory molecules in response to PRP showed absence of IL-1b and COX1 and modest expression of IL6, IL8, COX2, and TGF-b1. IL8 and IL6 proteins were secreted by tendon cells treated with PRP. The synthesis of IL6 and IL8 proteins induced by PRP is decreased significantly in the presence of hyperuricemia (P = 0.017 and P = 0.012, resp.). Concerning extracellular matrix, PRP-treated tendon cells displayed high type-1 collagen, moderate type-3 collagen, decorin, and hyaluronan synthase-2 expression and modest expression of scleraxis. Hyperuricemia modified the expression pattern of extracellular matrix proteins, upregulating COL1 (P = 0.036) and COMP (P = 0.012) and downregulating HAS2 (P = 0.012). Positive correlations between TGF-b1 and type-1 collagen (R = 0.905, P = 0.002) and aggrecan (R = 0.833, P = 0.010) and negative correlations between TGF-b1 and IL6 synthesis (R = -0.857, P = 0.007) and COX2 (R = -0.810, P = 0.015) were found.