Fig. 2.

Improvement of clinical manifestations of arthritis in rats fed type type II collagen (CII) and chitosan. Rats (n = 12–14) were fed diluent (Δ), chitosan (♦), CII (▪) and CII : chitosan (♦), as described in Fig. 1, and immunized with 0·5 mg CII in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) 2 days later. Groups were examined daily for the onset of the disease and severity of joint inflammation during 28 days after primary immunization. The following parameters were evaluated: (a) the percentage of body weight variation starting the onset day (˜ day 14) until 3 weeks after primary immunization; (b) incidence as the percentage of arthritic rats of the total number studied in each group; (c) the average of the clinical score evaluated as described in Materials and methods; (d) mean number of arthritic limbs affected in each group. Arrows point to the day where the significance starts. For weight variation and affected limbs, P versus diluent and CII groups; for incidence, P versus diluent.