Figure 4

Treatment with dexamethasone alone or in combination with raloxifene reduces the serum levels of COMP, RatLaps and inflammatory markers in arthritic mice. Female sham-operated (n = 10) or ovariectomy (OVX) mice treated with vehicle (Veh; n = 9), raloxifene (Ral; n = 10), dexamethasone (Dex; n = 9), or a combination of both Dex and Ral (n = 9) were used. Treatment was administered five days per week, started after the first appearance of arthritis (day 22) and continued until the termination of the experiment (day 49). The effects of the different treatments on cartilage destruction, bone destruction and inflammation were investigated. Serum levels of (a) COMP (cartilage destruction), (b) RatLaps (bone destruction), and (c) anti-collagen type II (CII) antibodies were measured by ELISA. Serum levels of (d) IL-6 were measured by cytometric bead assay. The detection limit for COMP was 2 U/L, for RatLaps 6 ng/ml, and for IL-6 5 pg/ml. The levels of anti-CII antibodies are described in arbitrary units (AU). Scatter plots of individual data are presented and bars indicate the median. The non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis test with post hoc comparison was used for statistical evaluation of all parameters, *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001.