Feeding of Celastrus suppresses the induction of adjuvant arthritis (AA) in the Lewis (LEW) rat

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Merr. suppresses the induction and progression of autoimmune arthritis by modulating immune response to heat-shock protein 65"</p><p>http://arthritis-research.com/content/9/4/R70</p><p>Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007;9(4):R70-R70.</p><p>Published online 23 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2206370.</p><p></p> LEW rats (= 7 per group) were fed by gavage daily either Celastrus (triangles; 3 g/kg body weight, experimental group) or water (circles; control group) starting on day 4 prior to H37Ra (Mtb) immunization (1 mg/rat) and then continuing throughout the observation period. Following Mtb injection, these rats were scored regularly for signs of arthritis. The difference in the mean arthritic scores of the Celastrus-fed and Water-fed rats during the course of AA was significant (*< 0.05 by Wilcoxon rank sum test). The results of an independent repeat experiment including two groups of Celastrus-treated rats are shown in this section. The difference in arthritic scores of Celastrus-fed versus Water-fed rats was significant (*< 0.05) for each of the groups tested (triangles; 1.5 g/kg, = 4; squares, 3 g/kg, = 4). The photograph shows the hind paw of a representative LEW rat from the water-fed (left) and Celastrus-fed (middle) groups on day 16 after Mtb immunization. The hind paw of a naive LEW rat (right) is also shown for comparison; each unit on the scale equals 1 mm, with 10 units between numbered marks

Levels of nitric oxide (NO) in lymph node cell (LNC) culture supernatant and serum of Celastrus-treated Lewis (LEW) rats

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Merr. suppresses the induction and progression of autoimmune arthritis by modulating immune response to heat-shock protein 65"</p><p>http://arthritis-research.com/content/9/4/R70</p><p>Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007;9(4):R70-R70.</p><p>Published online 23 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2206370.</p><p></p> LNC culture supernatant and sera were obtained from Celastrus-fed and Water-fed rats as described in Materials and methods. The level of NO in these samples was determined by a colorimetric assay. The results are presented as μM (mean + standard error of the mean). The level of NO secreted into the culture supernate following mycobacterial hsp65 (Bhsp65) restimulation of LNCs of Celastrus-fed rats was significantly (**< 0.005, *< 0.05) lower than that of water-fed rats on days 16 and 24 following H37Ra (Mtb) immunization (a). The levels of NO in sera of Celastrus-fed rats was significantly (**< 0.01, *< 0.05) decreased at days 16 and 24 compared to those of water-fed rats (b). However, the levels of NO in sera of both these Mtb-immunized groups of rats were higher (++< 0.01, +< 0.05) compared to those of naïve sera. In each section, some of the error bars are too small to be detected

Antibody response to mycobacterial hsp65 (Bhsp65) of Celastrus-fed Lewis (LEW) rats

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Merr. suppresses the induction and progression of autoimmune arthritis by modulating immune response to heat-shock protein 65"</p><p>http://arthritis-research.com/content/9/4/R70</p><p>Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007;9(4):R70-R70.</p><p>Published online 23 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2206370.</p><p></p> LEW rats (= 4 to 6) were fed either Celastrus (3 g/kg) or water as described in the legend to Figure 1. Blood samples were collected from LEW rats immediately before (preimmune serum; day 0) challenge with H37Ra (Mtb; 1 mg/rat) as well as at different time points thereafter (days 10, 18 and 24). These sera were tested separately at different dilutions (1:50 to 1:8,100) by ELISA for total immunoglobulin against Bhsp65. The results are expressed as optical density (O.D.) at 540 nm (mean + standard error of the mean). At one representative concentration of sera (for example, 1:100 dilution), the level of antibody response to Bhsp65 in Celastrus-fed rats was significantly higher than that of water-fed rats on days 18 and 24 (**< 0.01 each)

Celastrus induces therapeutic down-modulation of adjuvant arthritis (AA) that is comparable to that when using methotrexate (MTX)

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Merr. suppresses the induction and progression of autoimmune arthritis by modulating immune response to heat-shock protein 65"</p><p>Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007;9(4):R70-R70.</p><p>Published online 23 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2206370.</p><p></p> A cohort of Lewis (LEW) rats was immunized subcutaneously with H37Ra (Mtb; 1 mg/rat) at the base of the tail and then split into different groups (= 4 per group). Beginning day 9 thereafter, coinciding with the onset of clinical signs of arthritis in the hind paws, these rats were fed daily by gavage either Celastrus (experimental group) or water (negative control group). Experimental rats were fed with 3 g/kg of Celastrus, or with either 3 or 1.5 g/kg of Celastrus. An additional group of experimental rats shown in (b) received MTX (0.5 mg/kg; positive control). All these rats were observed and scored regularly for the severity of AA. In both (a) and (b) the difference in the mean arthritic score of each of the Celastrus-fed versus water-fed group of rats was significant (*< 0.05 by Wilcoxon rank sum test). Similarly, in (b), a significant (*< 0.05) difference in arthritic scores was observed between MTX-fed and water-fed rats, whereas comparable (> 0.05) arthritic scores were observed for Celastrus-fed versus MTX-fed rats

The cytokine response to mycobacterial hsp65 (Bhsp65) of lymph node cells (LNCs) of Celastrus-fed versus water-fed Lewis (LEW) rats

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Merr. suppresses the induction and progression of autoimmune arthritis by modulating immune response to heat-shock protein 65"</p><p>http://arthritis-research.com/content/9/4/R70</p><p>Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007;9(4):R70-R70.</p><p>Published online 23 Jul 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2206370.</p><p></p> Two groups of LEW rats (= 6 to 9) were fed either Celastrus (3 g/kg) or water as described in the legend to Figure 1. A sub-group of these LEW rats was euthanized on day 12 after H37Ra immunization, and the draining LNCs of these rats were cultured in a 96-well plate in the presence of the indicated recall antigens (HEL, hen eggwhite lysozyme; B177, synthetic peptide 177–191 of Bhsp65). The supernatant was collected after 72 h of cell culture and tested in ELISA for IFN-γ and IL-10. The results are expressed as pg/ml (mean + standard error of the mean). The difference in the level of IL-10 but not of IFN-γ in response to Bhsp65 in Celastrus-fed versus water-fed rats is statistically significant (*< 0.05). The mean IFN-γ/IL-10 ratio in response to Bhsp65 of Celastrus-treated (8.79) rats was significantly reduced compared to that of the water-fed (20.76) rats

Target categories for the 25 blocks.

<p>Target categories for the 25 blocks.</p

Values of the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of all subjects under the two algorithms, and the time windows is 25 ms.

<p>Values of the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of all subjects under the two algorithms, and the time windows is 25 ms.</p

Effect of IC on ERP signal.

<p>ERPs stimulated by the (A) high-complexity target image, (B) high-complexity nontarget image, (C) medium-complexity target image, (D) medium-complexity nontarget image, (E) low-complexity target image, and (F) low-complexity nontarget image. (G) Trial averaged target ERP wave forms calculated from (A), (C) and (E), where the red, blue, and green lines indicate the ERP components inspired by high-, medium- and low-complexity image. Similarly, images in (H) are indicative of nontarget image.</p

Target and non-target class waveforms.

<p>(A) All single-trial event-related potentials (ERPs) to target images at electrode Pz. (B) All single-trial ERPs to nontarget images at electrode Pz. (C) Grand averages across all trials of the target EEG signals at electrode Pz. (D) Grand averages across all trials of the nontarget EEG signals at electrode Pz.</p

System overview.

<p>First, the sample data are divided into equal three parts according to the image complexity (IC). The EEG data induced by high-, medium-, and low-complexity images. We trained the classifiers separately on the different data sets. During testing, we first determined the complexity and category (high-, medium-, or low-complexity image) of the test picture. Then, we calculated the interest scores of the EEG induced by a test image using the corresponding classifier. The result was combined with a certain weight to obtain the final decision score (The image is similar but not identical to the original image, and is therefore for illustrative purposes only).</p