Figure 1

Intra-articular glucocorticoids do not increase synovial tissue apoptosis levels in rheumatoid arthritis. Frozen sections of rheumatoid arthritis synovial biopsy tissues (n = 12) show aminoethylcarbazole staining (red) for active caspase-3 (hematoxylin-counterstained) before (a) and after (b) treatment and diaminobenzidine staining (brown) for TUNEL (hematoxylin-counterstained) before (c) and after (d) treatment (original magnification × 125). (e) Results from image analysis of synovial biopsy sections for active caspase-3 and TUNEL staining before and after intra-articular corticosteroid injection. Values represent the mean ± standard error of the mean. TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling.