Prostanoid Receptor Subtypes and Its Endogenous Ligands with Processing Enzymes within Various Types of Inflammatory Joint Diseases

Figure 7

Detection of PGE-2 receptor 4 (EP4 receptor) mRNA (a) and number of EP3-IR cells (b, c) in patients with joint trauma (JT), osteoarthritis (OA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). (a) Quantification of EP4 mRNA shows that EP4 mRNA was significantly higher in rheumatoid and osteoarthritic synovium compared to JT and control (data are shown as , , one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s test). (b) Quantitative analysis of immunofluorescence microscopy for EP3-IR cells relative to the control synovium (data are shown as , , Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA on ranks followed by Dunn’s test). (c) Immunofluorescence microscopy shows more abundant EP3-IR cells (Texas red fluorescence) in JT, OR, and RA compared to control synovium. DAPI blue fluorescence shows nuclear staining. . (, compared to control, ^#, compared to JT).

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