Fig. 5
Caspase 3/7 apoptosis assay of pre-cultured BMMs. Pre-cultured BMMs from control and CIA animals which were serum-deprived for 24 h were incubated with caspase 3/7 reagent for 6–10 h. Percentage of apoptosis of CIA BMMs compared with BMMs from controls is presented under (a). Influence of ACh and VIP on apoptosis induction in BMMs from control and CIA rats during the time course of arthritis is shown as percentage to non-stimulated macrophages (non-stimulated = dotted line) (b). The respective results for noradrenergic stimulation are shown under (c). N (control/CIA) = day 10 (9/10), day 15 (12/9), day 20 (10/10), and day 40 (11/12). Neurotransmitter stimulation N (control/CIA) = day 10 (6/6), day 15 (6/3), day 20 (6/6), and day 40 (8/8) for ACh, VIP, and NA (10−6 M, 10−8 M). Data are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. *P < 0.05 neurotransmitter stimulation versus non-stimulated macrophages; # P < 0.05 control cells versus CIA cells. ACh acetylcholine, BMM bone marrow-derived macrophage, CIA collagen II-induced arthritis, NA noradrenaline, VIP vasoactive intestinal peptide