Thrombin exerts an inflammatory role in chondrocytes through activating the MEK-Erk1/2-Stat3 signaling pathway.

Rat chondrocytes were divided into control group (RP), thrombin group (RPT), and thrombin plus inhibitor group (RPTi). The differential genes were identified by RNA-sequencing, and verified by western blot (WB), quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), cell immunofluorescence (IF), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) staining, functional enrichment analysis, and Gene Ontology (GO). To study the mechanism of thrombin regulating chondrocytes function based on RNA-sequencing and experimental verification.