Figure 2.

Influence of the dosing schedule of methotrexate on arthritis scores in collagen‐induced arthritis rats after the first immunization. methotrexate was orally administered at a dose of 7.0 mg/kg once weekly (closed triangle), 2.33 mg/kg thrice weekly (closed diamond) and 1.0 mg/kg once daily (open circle) for 3 weeks. Sodium bicarbonate was administered to the control group (closed square). Each value represents the mean ± SD (n = 6). An arrow showed start date of methotrexate administration. **P < 0.01 vs the control group, ^## P < 0.01 vs the once‐weekly group, ^† P < 0.05 vs the thrice‐weekly group. The inhibition of arthritis was the greatest in the once‐daily group among all the dosing groups tested.