Figures
Figure 1
Effects of sophocarpine on human rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLS . Human RA-FLS was cultured with vehicle (DMSO) or sophocarpineat indicated concentrations for 24 h. The cell viability was measured by MTT assay (A) , and the cell death was calculated by LDH release assay (B) . Data were presented as mean ± SD. * p <0.05 and ** p <0.01.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Effect of sophocarpine on LPS-induced proinflammatory gene expression in human RA-FLS. Human RA-FLS was pretreated for 2 h with various concentrations of sophocarpine (0.2,-0.5 mg/ml) and then left untreated (NT) or stimulated with LPS (100 ng/ml) for 6 h. The mRNA expression levels of IL-1b (A) , IL-6 (B) , TNF (C) , and IL-12b (D) were assayed by real-time qPCR. The protein levels of IL-1β (E) , IL-6 (F) , TNF (G) , and IL-12β (H) were assayed by ELISA. The values are mean ± SD of three independent experiments. # p <0.05 compared with the control group; *p <0.05 and **p <0.01 compared with the LPS group.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Effect of sophocarpine on LPS-induced NF-κB and MAPK activation in human RA-FLS. Human RA-FLS was pretreated with sophocarpine at indicated concentration for 2 h, followed by stimulation with or without LPS (100 ng/ml) for 1 h. The protein expression levels of P-p65, P-IκB, P-ERK, P-p38, P-JNK, and actin were determined by western blot and quantification analysis (A, B) . The values are mean ± SD of three independent experiments. # p <0.05 compared with the control group; **p <0.01 compared with the LPS group.
Figure 3
Figure 4
Sophocarpine treatment suppressed collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Following the development of clinical arthritis (average clinical score of 2) on day 31, mice with CIA were randomized to receive injection with either the vehicle or sophocarpine(50 mg/kg). (A) Clinical score of arthritis was evaluated every three days between vehicle- and sophocarpine-treated groups. (B) Serum of normal mice and CIA mice at day 52 were collected; the serum concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF, and IL-12p40 were determined by ELISA. (C) Quantitative evaluation (synovitis and cartilage scores) of histological lesions of the paws of the CIA mice. The values are mean ± SD of three independent experiments. # p <0.05 compared with the normal group; *p <0.05 compared with the vehicle group.
Figure 4
Tables
Authors
1 Department of Rheumatism, Daqing Oil Field General Hospital, NO.9 Saertu District, Daqing City 163000, Heilongjiang Province, China</i>
2 Department of Rehabilitation, Daqing Donghai Hospital, NO.13 Chengbei Road, Ranghulu District, Daqing City 163000, Heilongjiang Province, China
a Authorscontributed equally to this work
Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting nearly 1% of adults worldwide. This study aimed to investigate whether sophocarpine is a potential drug for treating RA.