Fig. 2

The effect of IL-1β on mechanically mediated activation of Smad3P-responsive genes in bovine articular cartilage. The influence of 3 and 12 MPa dynamic mechanical compression, carried out in absence (dots), and presence (squares) of IL-1β on relative expression of bSerpine1 (a), bSmad7 (b), bJunb (c), and bTgfb1 (d). Dynamic mechanical compression with 3 as well as with 12 MPa potently upregulated bSerpine1, bSmad7, bJunb, and bTgfb1 in conditions without IL-1β. In the presence of IL-1β, mechanically mediated upregulation of Smad3P-responsive genes was also observed. The effect of compression was comparable to the effect of exogenous TGF-β1 stimulation. Data are expressed as a grouped column scatter of multiple repeats with displayed mean (each point represents individual experimental repeat on material isolated from a different animal, N = 4). ^* p ≤ 0.05; ^** p ≤ 0.01; ^*** p ≤ 0.001. CTR control, GAPDH glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, IL-1β interleukin-1 beta, TGF-β transforming growth factor beta