Figure 4

ERα-mediated suppression of joint destruction. Arthritic DBA/1J mice (n = 12 per group) were orally (p.o.) treated daily with vehicle (gelatin-mannitol), prednisolone (1.5 or 3 mg/kg), (a) ethinyl estradiol (EE) at (0.025, 0.25 and 2.5 mg/kg) or the (b) estrogen receptor (ER)α agonist ERA-63 (0.75, 1.5 and 3 mg/kg). At autopsy, knees were evaluated using histopathology (infiltration and cartilage destruction), hind paws were evaluated using X-ray analysis (bone destruction) and serum was used for COMP analysis (cartilage destruction) (a, EE) and (b, ERA-63). Statistical analyses for COMP and for the area under the curve arthritis score, one-way analysis of variance was used with n = 12 per experimental group (* P ≤ 0.05).