Figure 4

Effect of diosgenin on caspase-3 activation in human rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes. After 48 hours' adherence, cells were cultured in 10% FCS medium and treated or not with 40 μM diosgenin for 24 or 48 hours, and then caspase-3 activity was measured with caspase-3 substrate (Ac-DEVD-AMC [N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp–7-amino-4-methylcoumarin]) in accordance with the manufacturer's protocol (see Materials and methods). Data are the mean ± SD of three experiments from three different patients and are expressed as relative units of fluorescence (RUF). *^,# A P-value of less than 0.05 (Fisher's protected-least-significant-difference test) was considered to indicate significance in comparison with the relevant controls. Ac-DEVD-CHO, N-acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde.