(A) Human OA chondrocytes were pretreated with or without sucrose (100mM) for 2h and then stimulated in the absence or presence of IL-1β (10ng/ml) for 24h. At the end of treatment chondrocytes were harvested, total RNA were isolated treated and mRNA expression were quantified using TaqMan assay. Expression of β-actin was used as endogenous expression control. (B). Sucrose inhibited the production of PGE2 in response to IL-1β (10ng/ml) as measured by ELISA in the culture supernatant of sucrose treated OA chondrocytes. (C) Inhibition of sucrose induced autophagy by pretreatment with 3-MA significantly abrogated sucrose mediated suppression of MMP-13, IL-6 and COX-2 in OA chondrocytes.*P≤ 0.05 compared to control group, #p≤0.05, compared to IL-1β group, $p≤0.05, compared to sucrose+ IL-1β group. n=3