Dexamethasone: chondroprotective corticosteroid or catabolic killer?

While glucocorticoids have been used for over 50 years to treat rheumatoid and osteoarthritis pain, the prescription of glucocorticoids remains controversial because of potentially harmful side effects at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. One member of the glucocorticoid family, dexamethasone (DEX) has recently been demonstrated to rescue cartilage matrix loss and chondrocyte viability in animal studies and cartilage explant models of...