Efficacy of Mitochondrial Antioxidant Plastoquinonyl-decyl-triphenylphosphonium Bromide (SkQ1) in the Rat Model of Autoimmune Arthritis

Figure 2

Pathological findings in 4-month-old (a) and 20-month-old (b) Wistar rats that were pretreated for 55 days with SkQ1 (250 nmol/kg/day) prior to induction of autoimmune arthritis and in 4-week-old rats treated with the same dose of SkQ1 daily from day 1 or day 14 after disease induction (c). Animals were sacrificed 32 days after arthritis induction. Severity of indicated pathological signs of arthritis was assayed upon H&E staining. Acidic glycosaminoglycans (cartilage) were visualized by alcian blue staining. Distribution of collagen was visualized by Mallory’s staining. All evaluations were done on blinded slides. Five high magnification fields were assayed per sample. Severity of pathological manifestations was scored by 3-point scale, from 0 for normal tissue to 3 for maximum damage. Statistical significance of difference between the negative control and pretreated groups was tested with the Kruskal-Wallis test; ; ; .

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