Fig. 4

Effects of CASP3 knockdown on IL‐1β‐caused inflammatory, apoptosis and ECM degradation in chondrocytes. CHON-001 cells were transfected with si-CASP3 or si-NC, and then exposed to IL-1β for 24 h. The mRNA (A) and protein (B) levels of CASP3 were analyzed using quantitative real time PCR and western blot. C ELISA assay was applied to determine the production of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. D Cell viability was assessed by CCK-8 assay. (E) Caspase-3 activity was determined in CHON-001 cells. All data are shown as means ± SD of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 indicate si-CASP3 versus si-NC; (F) The protein levels of Bcl-2, Bax, COL2A1, MMP-13 and β-catenin (E) were detected in CHON-001 cells