Figure 5.

Glycyrrhizin suppressed interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-induced proinflammatory cytokine production in treated chondrocytes. Chondrocytes were co-treated with glycyrrhizin (5 mM) and IL-1β (10 ng/mL) for 24 hours. si-HMGB1 was transfected into osteoarthritis patients’ chondrocytes 6 hours before the stimulation. Levels of IL-6 (A) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (B) were determined by ELISA (n = 6). IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA expression was assessed through qRT-PCR (C and D, respectively) (n = 3). All the experiments were repeated independently 3 times. ***P < 0.001 compared with NC, ^##P < 0.01 compared with single IL-1β treatment.