Lipoic Acid (LA) inhibits Thrombin induced increases in MMP9 in the amnion component of cultured FM. Intact FM fragments were pre-incubated with or without LA (0.25 mM) for 6h, then incubated with or without the addition of thrombin (10 u/ml) for 48h. After the incubations, the amnion was then separated from the choriodecidua and tested. Four groups are displayed: Control, LA pre-treatment, thrombin, LA treatment + thrombin. The Western blot shown is representative of three replicate experiments using three different placentas . Both the pro-MMP9 (92 kD) and the active MMP9 (78 kD) protein in the amnion component of treated FM explants are shown. To confirm the significance of qualitative results, blots were scanned and subjected to densitometric analysis. Each blot was normalized to the zero-thrombin controls as indicated in Methods (Data are presented mean ± SD, * p < 0.01 vs. all other groups).