Fig. 1.

Ligusticum wallichii extracts increased the cell viability and decreased the apoptosis of IL-1β-stimulated primary mouse chondrocytes. a L. wallichii alone had no significant impact on the viability of mouse chondrocytes. b IL-1β reduced the cell viability of primary mouse chondrocyte, which was rescued by L. wallichii treatment. Two concentrations (100 and 200 μg/ml) of L. wallichii extracts were used. The control was treated by the same volume of DMSO. c L. wallichii extracts reduced the caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities on IL-1β-stimulated cells. The treatment condition was same as b. d Flow cytometric analysis of the apoptosis of primary mouse chondrocytes treated by IL-1β or IL-1β + L. wallichii. Error bars ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01