Fig. 6

Early and late anti-TNF treatment can inhibit both the peripheral and axial TgA86 pathologies. a Early treatment with anti-TNF, starting at 2.5 weeks of age, and, to a lesser degree, late treatment, starting at 9 weeks of age, can ameliorate the clinical symptoms of both the peripheral and axial pathologies of 20-week-old TgA86 mice. b Representative H&E stained sections of hind limbs (top panel) and tail vertebrae (lower panel) show that both early and late anti-TNF treatment can ameliorate features of inflammation, bone erosion, and bone marrow cell aggregates in 20-week-old TgA86 mice. c Both peripheral and axial inflammation of 20-week-old TgA86 mice is ameliorated following either early or late treatment with anti-TNF. Early anti-TNF treatment has statistically significant inhibitory effect on the TgA86 inflammation compared to late treatment. d Both early and late anti-TNF treatment can partially restore the reduced vertebral length as this is measured by μCT imaging of the 6th caudal vertebra (C6) of 20-week-old TgA86 mice. e 3D μCT models (upper panel) and the longitudinal sections (lower panel) of reconstructed data sets of the C6 caudal vertebra of 20-week-old mice reveal that both early and late anti-TNF treatment can restore the surface, size, and shape characteristics as well as the bone marrow cavity structure of TgA86 vertebrae to more closely resembling those of the wild type mice [ETN, etanercept; data are presented as mean ± SEM; *P < 0.0222; **P < 0.004; ***P < 0.0007; ****P < 0.0001]