Demonstration of a novel technique to quantitatively assess inflammatory mediators and cells in rat knee joints

Journal of Inflammation

Table 1 The effect of anaesthetic on basal levels of cytokines in the joint.

	IL1α	IL1β	IL2	IL4	IL6	IL10	GM-CSF	IFNγ	TNFα
Basal (n = 10) Mean ± SEM	0.8 ± 0.5	1.0 ± 1.0	0.5 ± 0.5	0.2 ± 0.2	2.5 ± 2.5	1.5 ± 1.0	0 ± 0	0.1 ± 0.1	0.2 ± 0.2
Urethane (n = 5) Mean ± SEM	2.6 ± 1.1	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	1.0 ± 0.6	0.3 ± 0.3	36.6 ± 20.9
Pentobarbital (n = 5) Mean ± SEM	1.4 ± 0.7	0.2 ± 0.2	0.1 ± 0.1	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	6.2 ± 6.2	1.7 ± 0.4*	0.1 ± 0.1	44.2 ± 21.6*

Levels of nine cytokines in rats anaesthetised for 7 hours with either urethane or pentobarbital, in comparison with samples taken immediately after urethane anaesthesia (basal). Mann Whitney test were performed to determine differences between each anaesthetic and basal levels. Pentobarbital anaesthesia resulted in a significant elevation of GM-CSF and TNFα levels; statistical significance P < 0.05 indicated by *.

ISSN: 1476-9255