Figure 8.

Suppression of inflammatory response and the PI3K and NF-κB pathways by SP-D treatment in vitro. (A, B) Chondrocytes were pre-incubated with rhSP-D and transfection of pcDNA3.1-SP-D plasmid for 2 h before LPS co-treatment for 24 h. The concentrations of IL-1β and TNF-α were determined by ELISA. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). ^***P < 0.001 vs. control group; ^###P < 0.001 vs. LPS group. (C–F) Immunofluorescence with antibodies to PI3K and p65 in chondrocytes, and the fluorescence images of PI3K and p65-Tracker Red in chondrocytes. The IOD was quantified according to immunofluorescence. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). ^*P < 0.05 vs. LPS group; ^##P < 0.01 and ^###P < 0.001 vs. LPS + rhSP-D group.