Figure 1.

Curcumin suppresses chondrogenesis. (A) PNA and Alcian blue staining of chick limb bud mesenchymal cells grown in micromass cultures in the presence of varying concentrations of curcumin (upper panel) on day 3 and day 5 of cultures respectively. Quantification of chondrogenesis was determined by measuring the absorbance of bound Alcian blue at 600 nm (lower panel). (B) Changes in the levels of type II collagen in control and curcumin-treated cultures were determined by Western blotting on day 5 of culture. Results shown are representative of at least 4 independent experiments. HSP 70 was used as a loading control. ^*, statistically significant differences compared with control cells (P < 0.01).