Figure 1
Local delivery of Ad-mIL-4. Three days after lipopolysaccharidetreatment collagen-immunized mice were injected periarticularly with5×108 particles of Ad-mIL-4, Ad-eGFP, or saline. (a) Arthritis index. Subsequently, severity of disease was assessed every other dayusing an established macroscopic scoring system ranging from 0 to 4: 0, normal;1, detectable arthritis with erythma; 2, significant swelling and redness; 3,severe swelling and redness from joint to digit; and 4, maximal swelling withankylosis or necrosis. The average macroscopic score was expressed as acumulative value for all paws, with a maximum possible score of 16 per mouse(n = 20). *P <0.01. (b) Paw swelling. Thethickness of each paw was also evaluated using a spring-load caliper. The pawswelling for each mouse was calculated by adding the four thicknesses of theindividual paws. *P <0.1;**P<0.05. (c) Number of arthritic paws. At the same time, the totalnumber of arthritic paws were determined for each experimental group(n = 10, maximum 40 per group). *P <0.01.