Figure 3

Paw Cytokines Follow Disease Progression in CIA Mouse Model. Female DBA/1 mice were injected i.d. at the base of the tail with collagen II plus CFA, followed by a booster s.c. on day 21 with IFA followed by a 28 day LPS priming, full onset of arthritis was between 30-35 days. (A) Disease is established and mice enter the study when specific criteria are met (see materials and methods). Dexamethasone treatment at 1.5 mg/kg given i.p. three times a week significantly reduced paw thickness (average from independently measured mice) compared to vehicle control mice, *p < 0.05, N = 10 mice per group. (B) Serum IL-12 levels were significantly reduced upon dexamethasone treatment as compared to vehicle control group, *p < 0.05. (C) Paw IL-12 levels were assessed by our Luminex^® extraction protocol. IL-12 levels measured at the final time point were significantly less in the dexamethasone treated mice as expected from reduced serum IL-12 levels, *p < 0.05. (D) Histopathology H&E and Safranin-O representative slides from five mice (tarsus shown) at 4x magnification show that dexamethasone treated mice have reduced inflammation, matrix degeneration and joint disfiguration compared to the control vehicle mouse. All graphs show Mean ± SEM.