Figure 3.

Effect of thiacremonone on carrageenan-induced arthritis in rats. (a) Thiacremonone (Thia; 1 and 2 mg/kg) or indomethacin (Indo; 10 mg/kg) or vehicle (saline) was orally administered 30 minutes before carrageenan (0.05 ml; 3%, w/v in saline) into the planter area of the right hind paw of rat (n = 10). The volumes of the injected paws were monitored for four hours in 10 rats per each group as described in Materials and Methods. (b) Equal amounts of total proteins (40 μg/lane) were subjected to 10% SDS-PAGE, and the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in rat paw arthritis tissues was detected by western blotting using specific antibodies. β-actin protein was used as an internal control. (c) DNA-binding activity of nuclear factor (NF)-κB was determined by electromobility shift assay (EMSA) in nuclear extracts from mice paw arthritis tissues (3 lanes/each group) as described in Materials and Methods. (d) Equal amounts of total proteins (40 μg/lane) were subjected to 10% SDS-PAGE, and nuclear translocation of p50 and p65, and degradation of inhibitory (I) κB in rat paw arthritis tissues was detected by western blotting using specific antibodies. β-actin protein was used as an internal control. Values are mean ± standard deviation (n = 10). ^# indicates significantly different from control group (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05 indicate statistically significant differences from the carrageenan-treated group.