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. 2013 Oct 14;74(1):242–251. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-203670

Figure 6.

Figure 6

Macroscopic joint pathology and bone phenotype mRNA expression in antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) and AIA+NBQX inflamed and contralateral control rat knees. (A–C) Representative x-ray images show severe erosions in the tibial plateaux and femoral condyle in AIA rats (arrows, (B)). AIA+NBQX rats displayed a much smoother joint surface (C) resembling that seen in the contralateral control knee (A). (D–F) Representative MRIs confirm the erosions seen in x-rays (arrows), and also show the presence of severe synovial inflammation at day 21 (stars) in AIA rats (E). Synovial inflammation in AIA+NBQX knees was greatly reduced, as was joint erosion (F). FC, femoral condyle; TP, tibial plateaux. (G–K) Cathepsin K, collagen I, receptor activator of nuclear factor κ-B ligand (RANKL) and the RANKL to osteoprotegerin (OPG) ratio mRNA expression levels were significantly increased in the AIA inflamed knee compared with the AIA and AIA+NBQX contralateral control knees. (G, H) Cathepsin K and collagen I mRNA expression was also significantly increased in inflamed AIA+NBQX knees compared with the AIA+NBQX contralateral control. (G) A significant reduction in cathepsin K mRNA expression was found in AIA+NBQX inflamed knees compared with AIA inflamed knees. (J) There were no differences in OPG expression. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.