Fig. 4

Arhalofenate acid inhibited MSU crystal-induced IL-1β via AMPK in BMDMs in vitro. BMDMs were treated with arhalofenate acid at 100 μM for 1 h before being stimulated with monosodium urate (MSU) crystals (0.2 mg/mL) for 18 h in RPMI containing 1% FBS. Cell lysates were subjected to Western blot analysis for phosphorylation (p) and expression of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)α (a). The conditioned medium was used for ELISA analysis of interleukin (IL)-1β release (b). Data in a are representative of three individual experiments. Data in b are the mean ± SD of three individual experiments. The p values in b represent comparisons between none and MSU crystals alone in the presence or absence of arhalofenate acid in either wild-type (WT) or AMPKα1 knockout (KO) BMDMs. ns not significant