Fig. 7

In vivo anti-inflammatory mechanism of free Cel, NM@F127-Cel and R4F-NM@F127-Cel in CIA mice. a Confocal imaging of frozen sections of synovial tissue in joints stained with the M1 macrophage marker (iNOS) and M2 macrophage marker (Arg-1). Scale bar, 50 μm; Blue, DAPI; Red, Synovial macrophages. b–e Average fluorescence intensities and statistical results of M1 and M2 macrophage populations in synovial fluid from CIA mice from different groups analyzed by FCM (n = 4 for each group). FCM: flow cytometry. f The expression of iNOS and Arg-1 in joint synovial tissue from CIA mice was analyzed by western blotting. β-actin was used as a loading control. g–h Quantitative analysis of iNOS and Arg-1 protein levels relative to β-actin (n = 3 for each group). i–k Serum levels of cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10) after different treatments (n = 4). Data are presented as the mean ± SEM and were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test by comparing the group marked with * with the model group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01