Figure 7.
The presented data show the change in animal body weight measured on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 of the pivotal experiment. The experimental animals were divided as follows: HC—healthy control group; AA—group of untreated controls with adjuvant arthritis (AA); MTX—rats with AA treated with methotrexate (MTX) at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg twice weekly; ASTAP—group of rats with AA receiving astaxanthin of natural origin in the oral dose of 20 mg/kg daily, ASTAP + MTX—group of rats with AA receiving astaxanthin of natural origin in the oral dose of 20 mg/kg daily and in a combination with MTX at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg twice weekly; ASYN—group of rats with AA receiving synthetic astaxanthin in the oral dose of 20 mg/kg daily; ASYN + MTX—group of rats with AA receiving synthetic astaxanthin in the oral dose of 20 mg/kg daily and in combination with MTX at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg twice weekly; BEKA—group of rats with AA receiving β-carotene in the oral dose of 20 mg/kg daily; KXAN—group of rats with AA receiving β-cryptoxanthin in the oral dose of 10 μg/kg daily. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was evaluated using ANOVA for independent variables: *** p < 0.001 vs. HC group, ++ p < 0.01 vs. AA group.