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. 2016 Aug 23;23(1):63. doi: 10.1186/s12929-016-0280-1

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

Positive role of VIP in osteoarthritis pathogenesis. VIP is released into OA knee joints and subsequent accumulation of VIP in the joint down-regulates the VPAC receptor. Up-regulation of VIP increases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines which in turn sensitizes afferent nerve fibres leading to the vascular dysfunction and degenerative changes in OA [37, 38, 40]