椎间盘退变（IDD）可引发多种脊柱相关疾病，而炎症是IDD发病的重要因素。研究证实移植骨髓间充质干细胞（BMSCs）可通过分泌肿瘤坏死因子α刺激基因-6（TSG-6）抑制椎间盘炎症改善IDD，但移植BMSCs存在活性差存活时间短等问题。如果能促进髓核内源性干细胞分泌TSG-6则有望为IDD治疗提供新方向。申请人前期研究发现BMSCs可通过iNOS信号通路调控TSG-6表达，同时黄芪甲苷可促进炎症环境下BMSCs分泌TSG-6。因此我们推测：黄芪甲苷可通过iNOS/TSG-6信号通路促进间充质干细胞抑制炎症改善IDD。本课题将通过观察黄芪甲苷对针刺诱导小鼠椎间盘退变的影响，黄芪甲苷预处理BMSCs对IL-1β诱导小鼠髓核细胞的作用，以及研究黄芪甲苷促进BMSCs分泌TSG-6的内在机制来验证上述推测。研究旨在从中药促进内源性干细胞免疫调节抑制炎症角度，为中医治疗慢性筋骨退行性疾病提供新思路。

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) can cause a variety of spine-related diseases, and inflammation is an important factor in the development of IDD. Studies have confirmed that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transplantation can inhibit intervertebral disc inflammation by secreting tumor necrosis factor alpha stimulation gene-6 (TSG-6) to improve IDD, but BMSCs transplantation has problems of poor activity and short survival time. If it can promote the secretion of TSG-6 from endogenous stem cells of nucleus pulposus, it is expected to provide a new direction for the treatment of IDD.The applicant's previous research found that BMSCs can regulate the expression of TSG-6 through the iNOS signal pathway, and astragaloside IV can promote the expression of TSG-6 in BMSCs in an inflammatory environment. Therefore, we speculate that astragaloside IV can promote MSCs to inhibit inflammation and improve IDD through the iNOS/TSG-6 signal pathway. To verify the above speculation, we will observe the effect of astragaloside IV on acupuncture-induced disc degeneration in mice and the effect of astragaloside IV pretreatment of BMSCs on IL-1β-induced mouse nucleus pulposus cells, and study the effect of astragaloside IV on the secretion of TSG-6 by BMSCs in this project. The study aims to provide new ideas for the treatment of chronic muscle and bone degenerative diseases by traditional Chinese medicine from the perspective of promoting endogenous stem cell immune regulation and inhibiting inflammation.