ObjectiveTo detect the metabolites of the serum and joint fluid from rabbits’ osteoarthritis model with 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) technique, study the metabolic differences and connections of serum, synovial and cartilage of rabbits after the articular cavity injection of sodium hyaluronate, and explore osteoarthritis and metabolic mechanism in the process of treating sodium hyaluronate using sodium hyaluronate, thus provide new ideas and basis of the specific mechanisms in the treatment of osteoarthritis via sodium hyaluronate.MethodsWe selected 30 healthy New Zealand white rabbits, 6 months old, and randomly divided them into three groups as follows: blank control group, model phosphate buffer saline (PBS) liquid injection group and model injection of sodium hyaluronate group, with 10 rabbits in each group. Ten weeks after surgery, all experimental animals were put to death and observed in correlation studies regarding general condition, imaging examination, and histological examination. Metabolites 1H NMR detection and data preprocessing were performed in the serum and joint fluid samples.ResultsThe results considering general condition, general sample observation, imaging examination and histology indicated advantages in sodium hyaluronate group over PBS group. Metabolomics analysis showed statistically significant changes of metabolites in the serum and joint fluid compared with the PBS group and the blank control group (P<0.05). According to the relevant ways of differences metabolites retrieval, analysis found that the effect of sodium hyaluronate on osteoarthritis might be related to protein biosynthesis, amino acid circulation, the metabolic process of pyruvic acid, gluconeogenesis and other metabolic pathways.ConclusionsBased on the research of 1H-NMR metabolomics, the results suggest that the effect of sodium hyaluronate on osteoarthritis is mainly related with the activation of protein metabolism, abnormal lipid and energy metabolic pathways. This study provides new ideas and basis on the concrete mechanism in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis using sodium hyaluronate.