Fig. 1

Cucurbitacin E alleviated IL-1β-induced inflammation. A Structural formula of Cucurbitacin E; B Morphological structure of human chondrocytes; B (1) shows the field of view under an optical microscope, and B (2) shows toluidine blue staining of chondrocytes. The scale bar represents 50 µm; C Activity of Cucurbitacin E at different concentrations in chondrocytes. D Western blot analysis of the expression of IL-1β and COX-2 in inflamed chondrocytes stimulated with IL-1β and treated with Cucurbitacin E at different concentrations (1, 5, and 10 nM). E and F Quantitative analysis of IL-1β and COX-2 protein expression (n = 3). The significance of differences between groups is expressed as P values (***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05,^nsP > 0.05)