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). Overall design: To study the mechanism of thrombin regulating chondrocytes function based on RNA-sequencing and experimental verification.