FIGURE 3.

SaB inhibited inflammation response and fibrosis-related functions of synovial fibroblasts. (A) The CCK-8 result showed that with the increase of SaB concentration, the number of living synovial fibroblasts decreased gradually. SaB treatment less than 80 μg/mL have no statistically significant effect on the growth and proliferation of synovial fibroblast within 72 h. (B) qRT-PCR results showed a decreasing mRNA trend of inflammatory cytokines and fibrosis-related molecules with increasing SaB concentrations. ELISA results suggested that less inflammatory cytokines were secreted in the supernatant of synovial fibroblast after the administration of SaB. (C) Western blotting results showed that as the concentration of SaB increased, synovial fibroblast expressed less fibrosis-related proteins including COL 1, COL 3, FN, and α-SMA as well as CD36. (D) Synovial fibroblasts expressed less fibrosis-related molecules as the administration time of SaB increased within 72 h. Besides, administration time of 48 h showed no significantly different therapeutic effect than that of 72 h, or even better. (E–H) Cell adhesion test and Wound-healing suggested that SaB concentration of 80 μg/mL and administration time of 48 h may be the appropriate condition for inhibiting the fibrosis-related functions of synovial fibroblasts. Scale bar: 50 μm *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.