Fig. 3

Anti-arthritic drugs decrease the cytokines-induced expressions of MMP3 (a) and MMP13 (b) in ELACs. Chondrocytes were pre-treated with a combination of IL-1β (2.5 ng/mL) and OSM (2 ng/mL) for 2 h, after which they were treated with various concentrations of DIA (diacerein; 2.5–10 μM), DEX (dexamethasone; 5–20 nM), INDO (indomethacin; 2.5–10 μM), and ETORI (etoricoxib; 2.5–10 μM), for 24 h. mRNA levels were assessed by real-time RT-PCR. Results are presented as mean ± SEM. * signifies statistical significance compared with control (*p < 0.05), whereas # signifies statistical significance in relation to the cytokines treatment group (#p < 0.05)