Cytokine stimulation of canine chondrocytes and osteoblasts

In vitro modelling of osteoarthritis typically uses cytokines to induce a catabolic phenotype in joint cells. This model was used to identify the response to a cytokine parameter identified as most representative of early stage osteoarthritis. Canine cells were used, isolated from the humeral head of post-mortem subjects. The cartilage cells were stimulated with 5 ng/ml of IL8 for 2 hours, whilst the osteoblasts were stimulated with 500 pg/mL of IL1 and 500 pg/mL of IL8. After the indicated culture time, RNA was extracted and a microarray was performed to identify gene expression changes.