Figure 2.

Autophagy represses the catabolic effects induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells at the mRNA level. mRNA expression of (A) matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) and (B) MMP9 in NP cells was induced by TNF-α and markedly repressed by additional rapamycin (Rapa). (C) MMP2 mRNA expression was downregulated by Rapa but was not regulated by TNF-α. (D) A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS4) and (E) COX2 mRNA expression in NP cells upregulated by TNF-α and subsequently suppressed by additional Rapa. Data represent mean + standard error of three independent experiments. ^*P<0.05; ns, not significant.