By inducing mouse osteoarthritis model, the research team detected the decreased expression of unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1 (ULK1), Beclin1 and microtubule Associated Protein 1 Light Chain 3 (LC3), and proposed that the autophagic compensatory mechanism of chondrocyte was a new pathogenesis of OA. This evidence concerns the gene ULK1 and osteoarthritis.