Fig. 5.

A3 receptor agonist prevents articular cartilage matrix degradation induced by TNF-alpha and hypo-osmotic shock. Collagenase-generated collagen neo-epitope (a) and aggrecanase-generated aggrecan neo-epitope (b) in the media of pig articular cartilage explants as visualized by Western blot. Explants were cultured for 24 h in the indicated conditions. A3 receptor agonist, IB MECA (1 nM), was able to decrease collagenase and aggrecanase activity in culture as shown by the downregulation of aggrecan neo-epitope and collagen type II neoepitope expression. Data shown are normalized to explant wet weight. Data represent four biological replicates and are presented as mean ± SD; P values were calculated with one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey honest significant difference post hoc test. P values < 0.05 were considered to be significant