Traditional Chinese medicine-derived monomers protect chondrocytes and delay osteoarthritis progression by regulating mitochondrial quality control

Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease characterized by progressive cartilage degeneration, joint structural damage, and functional impairment. Despite its high prevalence, effective therapies capable of slowing structural progression remain limited. Increasing evidence suggests that mitochondrial quality control is a key mechanism in maintaining chondrocyte homeostasis and plays an important role in the development and progression of osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis chondrocytes, mitochondrial quality control is mainly manifested through impaired mitochondrial biogenesis, dysregulated mitochondrial fusion and fission, abnormal mitophagy, and oxidative stress-related mitochondrial dysfunction. These alterations can lead to reduced ATP production, excessive reactive oxygen species accumulation, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, enhanced chondrocyte senescence and apoptosis, and extracellular matrix degradation, thereby accelerating osteoarthritis progression. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine-derived monomers have attracted increasing attention because of their relatively clear chemical composition and multitarget pharmacological activities. Accumulating studies indicate that TCM-derived monomers, such as quercetin, resveratrol, curcumin, baicalin, berberine, and icariin, can protect chondrocytes and delay osteoarthritis progression by regulating key processes involved in mitochondrial quality control. This review focuses on the role of mitochondrial quality control in osteoarthritis chondrocytes and summarizes current research on the protective effects of TCM-derived monomers from the perspectives of mitochondrial biogenesis, mitochondrial dynamics, mitophagy, and oxidative stress-related homeostasis, with the aim of providing a reference for future mechanistic studies and potential therapeutic development.