Figure 1.

MGDG (monogalactosyldiacylglycerol) anti-inflammatory activity on IL-1α (interleukin-1alpha) + TNFα (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) treated cells. Cells were pretreated overnight with different concentrations of MGDG before treatment with 100 U/ml IL-1α + 200 U/ml TNFα for 24 hours. A) Upper panels: Western blot of articular cartilage cell lysates with COX-2 (Cyclooxygenase-2) antibody. Actin was blotted as an internal control. Lower panels: Western blot of cell conditioned media with IL-6 (interleukin-6) and IL-8 (interleukin-8) antibodies; B-C) Quantitation of the IL-6 and IL-8 repression by MGDG; densitometric analysis of five Western blots performed on five independent experiments on two chondrocyte primary cultures; to show the repression by MGDG the % value referred to the value in IL-1α +TNFα induced cells (100%) is calculated. Average ± standard deviation is shown. D) MTT staining of cells treated with IL-1α +TNFα in the absence and in the presence of MGDG. The experiment was performed in triplicate in two independent experiments giving similar results. One representative experiment is shown. 15ΔPGJ2, 15-deoxy-Δ^12,14-prostaglandin J_2,; COX-2, cyclooxygenase-2; DGDG, digalactosyldiacylglycerol; IL-1, interleukin-1; IL-6, interleukin-6; IL-8, interleukin-8; MGDG, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol; mPGES, microsomal PGE synthase; NF-kB, nuclear factor-kappaB; P1, cell passage number1; p38, p38 mitogen activated protein kinase; PGE₂, prostaglandin E₂; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor alpha.