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. 2015 Dec 8;16(12):29265–29277. doi: 10.3390/ijms161226164

Figure 3.

Figure 3

MSU crystal-induced chondrocyte death was not related to ER stress. (A) The effect of MSU crystals on the mRNA level of the ER stress markers. Human chondrocytes were incubated with thapsigargin (TG, 0.5 µM) or MSU (200 µg/mL) for 24 h. The mRNA levels of GRP78, PERK, IRE1, XBP1, and ATF6 were measured by RT-qPCR. Data represent the mean ± SD for duplicate experiments from three different donors (n = 3). * p < 0.05 vs. untreated cells; (B) The effect of MSU crystals on the protein expression of the ER stress markers. Human chondrocytes were incubated with TG (0.5 µM) or MSU crystals (200 µg/mL) for 24 h. The protein expression of GRP78/Bip, p-PERK, and IRE1α was determined by Western blot analysis. β-actin was used as a loading control. Data are representative of three independent experiments from three different donors (n = 3); (C) The relative expression level of GRP78/Bip, p-PERK, and IRE1α proteins. Protein density was normalized to β-actin. The bars represent the mean ± SD of triplicate samples from three different donors. *** p < 0.005, **** p < 0.001 vs. untreated control. ### p < 0.005, #### p < 0.001 vs. MSU crystal-treated cells.