Senkyunolide A Mitigates IL-1β-Induced Chondrocyte Inflammation

Chondrocytes were stimulated with IL-1β (Xu and Xu 2017 (link)) (10 ng/mL, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) for 24 h to simulate an inflammatory response. For the SenA treatment groups, chondrocytes were pre-treated with different concentrations of SenA (0, 20, 40, 80 and 160 μg/mL, MedChemExpress, Monmouth Junction, NJ) for 2 h in serum free medium. To investigate the effects of SenA on IL-1β-induced chondrocytes, the chondrocytes were divided into five groups: control group (untreated cells), IL-1β, IL-1β + SenA 20, IL-1β + SenA 40 μg/mL group and IL-1β + SenA 80 μg/mL group. To confirm the effects of SenA on IL-1β-stimulated chondrocytes through the NLRP3 signalling pathway, the NLRP3 activator, nigericin (Nig, 15 μmol/L, MedChemExpress, Monmouth Junction, NJ) was used to treat chondrocytes. Chondrocytes were divided into four groups: control group, IL-1β group, IL-1β + SenA (80 μg/mL) group and IL-1β + SenA + Nig group. SenA was dissolved in 0.1% dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). In all cell cultures, the concentration of DMSO was less than 0.05%, which had no perceptible impact on cell growth or death.