To observe the protective effect of gentiopicroside on cartilage extracellular matrix in osteoarthritis and explore its mechanism.Methods:Cartilage cells were extracted from articular cartilage and cultured in vitro until primary generation.The experiment set up blank control group，model group and observation group.The control group used conventional culture medium.The model group had interleukin-1β(IL-1β) added to the culture medium to induce an osteoarthritis model at the cellular level.The observation group received gentiopicroside intervention on the basis of the model group conditions.RNA was extracted after 72 h of co-culture in vitro.Real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression changes of specific genes for articular cartilage extracellular matrix，such as type Ⅱ collagen A1，proteoglycan，matrix metalloproteinase-13(MMP-13)，and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-5.(ADAMTS-5.)Results:Compared with the control group，the expression of type Ⅱ collagen A1 and proteoglycan in the model group decreased significantly(P<0.01)，and the expressions of MMP-13 and ADAMTS-5 increased significantly(P<0.01).Compared with the model group，the expressions of type Ⅱ collagen A1 and proteoglycan in the observation group increased，with the difference in type Ⅱ collagen A1 being statistically significant(P<0.05)，and the expressions of MMP-13 and ADAMTS-5 decreased，with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).Conclusion:Gentiopicroside can upregulate the mRNA expression of type Ⅱ collagen A1 and proteoglycan in the extracellular matrix of cartilage，and has a protective effect on the cartilage cells in osteoarthritis，primarily by inhibiting the production of MMP-13.