Fig. 4
From: Natural products in osteoarthritis treatment: bridging basic research to clinical applications
Apoptosis-related signaling pathways in chondrocyte influenced by NPs. NPs mainly affect apoptosis through intrinsic rather than extrinsic pathway, including up-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins and down-regulation of pro-apoptotic proteins. NPs can reduce the production pro-apoptosis-related genes such as cleaved-caspase via inhibiting IL-1β-induced phosphorylation of IκB and nuclear translocation of p65 in chondrocyte. In addition, NPs enhance autophagy and further protect chondrocytes from IL-1β-induced apoptosis in IL-1β-treated chondrocytes