A series of preclinical studies supports the mechanism of action of CH-Alpha, including its accumulation in the joints and its stimulatory effect on chondrocytes leading to increases in concentrations of type II collagen and proteoglycans.^1-4

The latest study investigated the effect of CH-Alpha on human articular cartilage that was collected from patients who had undergone primary hip replacement after femoral neck fractures. Results showed that, even in this compromised tissue, supplementation of the culture medium with CH-Alpha led to a statistically significant (P<0.05) increase in type II collagen and proteoglycan biosynthesis of human cartilage cells compared with control.¹ Again, CH-Alpha had no unwanted effect on protease activity.

In another preclinical study, mice received radiolabeled CH-Alpha (or labeled proline as a control) in doses of 10 mg per g of body weight.² The radioactivity was measured in different tissues in regular intervals over a 96-hour period. The radioactivity was eliminated in plasma after 96 hours, whereas in joint cartilage, significant enrichment occurred. This decisive aspect, which has been confirmed in animal and laboratory experiments, shows that subsequent to the intragastric administration of radiolabeled CH-Alpha, the labeled peptides could be detected in cartilage tissue in enriched quantities.

Accumulation of CH-Alpha in joint cartilage 96 hours after oral administration.2

Laboratory experiments have shown that enrichment of a bovine cartilage cell culture with CH-Alpha significantly increased the biosynthesis of type II collagen in chondrocytes compared with control (secretion in the study group was 2.5-fold higher than that in the control group).³ These results have been confirmed in recent studies on cultures of porcine cartilage cells.⁴ In addition, a significant increase in the level of the proteoglycan, aggrecan was observed. These 2 studies conducted by Oesser et al, thus indicate increased synthesis of the extracellular matrix. In contrast, there was also no undesired stimulation of protease activity and hence no increased loss of cartilage substance.⁴

Type II collagen secretion after stimulation with CH-Alpha or basal medium (control) as a function of time.3	Immunocytochemical detection of type II collagen (brown stain) after stimulation with CH-Alpha.3

References:

1. Oesser S, Haggenmüller D, Schulze CH. Collagen hydrolysate modulates the extracellular matrix metabolism of human chondrocytes. Poster presented at: EULAR 2006; June 21-24, 2006; Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2. Oesser S, Adam M, Babel W, Seifert J. Oral administration of ¹⁴C labeled gelatin hydrolysate leads to an accumulation of radioactivity in cartilage of mice (C57/BL). J Nutr. 1999;129:1891-1895.
3. Oesser S, Seifert J. Stimulation of type II collagen biosynthesis and secretion in bovine chondrocytes cultured with degraded collagen. Cell Tissue Res. 2003;311:393-399.
4. Oesser S, Seifert J. Impact of degraded collagen on joint cartilage. Ann Rheum Dis. 2004;63:375.