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. 2015 Dec 4;10(12):e0144252. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144252

Fig 3. STAT3 regulates leptin-induced BMP-2 mRNA in human primary chondrocytes.

Fig 3

(A) Cells were kept as controls or treated with leptin for 1, 4, 8, and 24 h, and the phosphorylations of STAT3 and STAT5 were determined by Western blot. (B-C) Cells were transfected with (B) ERK1- or ERK2-specific siRNA or (C) STAT3- or STAT5-specific siRNA and then kept as controls or treated with leptin for 4 h. (B) The phosphorylations of STAT3 and STAT5 were determined by Western blot and (C) the BMP-2 mRNA expression was determined by real-time PCR. (D) Cells were kept as controls or treated with leptin for 1, 4, and 8 h, and the STAT3-BMP-2 promoter binding activity was analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation and real-time PCR. Results in (A) and (B) are representative of three independent experiments with similar results. Data in (C) and (D) are mean ± SEM from three to four independent experiments. *, P < 0.05 vs. siCL/control or untreated cells. #, P < 0.05 vs. siCL/leptin-treated cells.