Fig 1.
Formation of liposome/gold nanoparticles encoded with CoQ10 (LGNP-CoQ10).
(A) Structure of the LGNP-CoQ10. (B and C) The cloudy color and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorbance of CoQ10, CoQ10 liposome, and CoQ10+gold liposome solutions are presented. (D) The morphology of liposomes that contained only CoQ10 and gold nanoparticles + CoQ10 was assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Scale bars = 50 nm.
Fig 2.
Pathology scores of CoQ10 and LGNP-CoQ10-injected mice.
(A) The arthritis score and incidence of CIA mice in each group are shown. (B) Joint tissues of CIA mice were stained with hematoxylin and eosin as well as Safranin O. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. Scale bars = 100 μm.
Fig 3.
Immunohistochemistry of joint tissues in vehicle-, CoQ10-, and LGNP-CoQ10-injected mice.
*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; and ***P < 0.001. Scale bars = 100 μm.
Fig 4.
Immunofluorescence of spleen tissues.
(A and B) Th17 cells and phosphorylated STAT3 expression in the spleens of treatment with vehicle, CoQ10 and LGNP-CoQ10 were detected by confocal microscopy. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; and ***P < 0.001. Scale bars = 10 μm.
Fig 5.
IL-17 levels were detected by ELISA in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in anti-CD3 conditions.
The isolated PBMC was seeded and treated the 0.5μM of CoQ10 and LGNP-CoQ10 for 3 days respectively. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.