Figure 8

Effect of diosgenin on DNA fragmentation after stimulation with IL-1β (an inducer of cyclooxygenase-2 [COX-2]). Human rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) were preincubated with or without IL-1β (1 ng/ml) for 4 hours and then 40 μM diosgenin was added for 24 or 48 hours. Measurements were made on FLS from four different patients. Data are expressed as mean ± SD of four experiments. *^,# A P value of less than 0.05 (Fisher's protected-least-significant-difference test) was considered to indicate significance in comparison with diosgenin alone. OD, optical density.