Figure 6

Chemerin promotes cell motility of rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes. (A) A scraped cell-free area was created on a monolayer of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs). After incubation with serum-free DMEM containing chemerin (2 or 10 nM) with or without pertussis toxin (PTX) (0.5 μg/ml), the process of two-dimensional FLS migration into the cell-free area at the center of the well was photographed with an inverted microscope at 0 and 24 hours. Representative photographs of three separate experiments are shown (A). The number of the cells in the scraped area was counted. Data are fold increases in the number of migrating cells at 24 hours (number of cells that migrated after chemerin stimulation compared to the number of cells without stimulation) (B). Data are presented as means (± SEM) of one of three independent experiments analyzed in triplicate. *P < 0.05 relative to samples not treated with chemerin. **P < 0.05 relative to samples not treated with PTX; ns, not significant. (C) Fold increase in the number of migrating cells when FLS were stimulated with 2 or 10 nM of chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) for 24 hours is shown; ns = not significant.