Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 13 pp 17690—17706
α-Cyperone (CYP) down-regulates NF-κB and MAPKs signaling, attenuating inflammation and extracellular matrix degradation in chondrocytes, to ameliorate osteoarthritis in mice
Figure 6. CYP ameliorates knee joint degradation of OA in a surgery-induced mouse DMM model in vivo. (A) Digital X-ray images showing the degree of degradation in the mouse knee joint across the three experimental groups. White arrows indicate the narrow space of joint and the formation of abnormal osteophyte. (B, C) Representative safranin O-fast green (S-O) staining of the cartilage and synovitis across the three experimental groups (scale bar: 200 μm in cartilage and 100 μm in enlarged). (D) OARSI scores of the cartilage across the three experimental groups. (E) Thickness of the subchondral bone plate across the three experimental groups. (F) Synovitis scores in the three experimental groups. (G) The amount of IL-1β and IL-6β in joint serum was detected by ELISA test. (H) Immunohistochemical staining of collagen II and MMP-13 expression in the cartilage samples (scale bar: 100 μm). (I) The percentages of collagen II and MMP-13 positive cells in each section were quantified by Image Pro Plus. Data are presented as means ± S.D. ### denotes p<0.01 vs. the sham group while *** indicates p<0.05 vs. the DMM group, n=15.