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. 2020 Jun 4;20(2):1775–1781. doi: 10.3892/etm.2020.8839

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Vitamin D3 treatment inhibits TNF-α-induced damage in chondrocytes. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to investigate the expression levels of (A) ACAN and (B) COL2A1 in chondrocytes. TNF-α treatment significantly reduced the mRNA expression levels of ACAN and COL2A1 in chondrocytes, while vitamin D3 and the β-catenin inhibitor (PNU-74654) significantly increased the expression of ACAN and COL2A1 in chondrocytes treated with TNF-α. (C) Western blotting was used to investigate the expression levels of aggrecan and COL2A1. TNF-α treatment reduced the aggrecan and COL2A1 expression levels at the protein level, while vitamin D3 and the β-catenin inhibitor (PNU-74654) significantly counteracted this effect. **P<0.01. TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α; ACAN, aggrecan; COL2A1, collagen II; NS, non-significant.