Oxidative stress at the crossroads between osteoarthritis and metabolic syndrome

This chapter focuses on the role of oxidative stress in osteoarthritis and metabolic syndrome with discussion of mechanisms and commonalities. We address the molecular biology of chondrocytes, synoviocytes, adipocytes, and mitochondria as they relate to these two disorders. The final discussion concerns oxidative stress and epigenetic modulation as a target for therapy of osteoarthritis. In short, oxidative stress plays a role in the generation of the osteoarthritis changes seen in cartilage. As outlined below, oxidative stress may adversely impact not only the loss of maturational arrest of chondrocytes but the extracellular joint matrix as well.