Figure 4.

YP downregulates pro-inflammatory and ECM degradation markers associated with OA in the explant-based co-culture OA model under inflammatory stimulation with IL-1β. Cartilage explants co-cultured with human primary synoviocytes were pre-treated with 10 μM YP for 24 h, followed by 24 h of 10 ng/mL IL-1β stimulation. Relative gene expression of COX-2, IL-6 and MMP3 in cartilage explants were determined by qPCR. DXM indicates treatments with 2 μM dexamethasone. Data are presented as means of at least three independent experiments. One-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons were achieved with the Dunnett’s test. All graphs show mean ±SD. Statistical significance was defined as p ≤ 0.005 (**) and p ≤ 0.0005 (***).