C-Reactive Protein Knockout Attenuates Temporomandibular Joint Inflammation in Rats

Figure 3

Inflammatory manifestations in rat TMJs. (a)–(d) Representative images of rat heads with linear head width marked as the distance between the bilateral TMJs from Con, CFA, CRP, and groups, respectively. (e)–(h) Representative images of exposed TMJs and synovial membranes from Con, CFA, CRP, and groups, respectively. The part around with arrows is disc, and synovium covered with grey stars. Note swollen and hyperplastic synovial membranes in the CFA and groups. (i)–(l) Representative images of discs from Con, CFA, CRP, and groups, respectively; the thickened opaque discs from the CFA group were obvious. (m) and (n) Magnified images of (j) and (l) showed central middle of disc, which should be transparent in normal (area around with arrows in (n)). Note that this area disappeared in the CFA group (m). (o) Different of head widths among groups. Note the width increase in group is not that much in the CFA group compared to their corresponding control groups. (p) Net weights of the discs showing significantly higher weights in the inflammation groups than in the control groups (; ; ); Con: control, : group.

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