Figure 3.

YP downregulates cell differentiation, extracellular matrix degradation and pro-inflammatory markers associated with osteoarthritis (OA) in the ex vivo cartilage explant model under HAP stimulation. Human cartilage explants were pre-treated with 10 μM YP for 24 h, followed by 72 h of 750 μg/mL HAP stimulation. Relative gene expression of Col10, Runx2 and MMP3 was determined by qPCR (a), and levels of MMP3 and IL-6 accumulation in the culture media were determined by ELISA (b). DXM indicates treatments with 2 μM dexamethasone. Data are presented as means of at least three independent experiments. All graphs show mean ±SD. One-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons were achieved with the Dunnett’s test. Statistical significance was defined as p ≤ 0.05 (*), p ≤ 0.005 (**) and p ≤ 0.0005 (***).