Fig. 5.

Effect of α-MSH on TIMP-3 secretion (a) and gene expression (b) in IL-1β or TNF-α-stimulated chondrocytes. Human primary chondrocytes were incubated for 4 h at 37 °C with 10⁻⁶M α-MSH and further cultured for 40 h in the presence or absence of 10 ng/mL IL-1β or TNF-α. TIMP-3 concentration in the supernatans (a) and gene expression (b) were then measured. Data from 4 separate experiments (± S.E.M.) are shown. *P < 0.002 vs Medium; **p < 0.001 vs Medium; ° p < 0.02 vs Medium; °° p < 0.002 vs Medium; ^§ p < 0.05 vs IL-1β