Contents

Abstract
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
1. Introduction
1.1 Rheumatoid Arthritis
1.2 Synovial Fibroblasts
1.3 Rheumatoid Arthritis Classification Criteria
1.4 Current Pharmacotherapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis
1.5 Alternative Therapies for Rheumatoid Arthritis
1.6 Epigallocatechin-3-gallate
1.7 Tumor Necrosis Factor-α in Rheumatoid Arthritis
1.8 Aims and Objectives
2. Material and methods
2.1 Antibodies and Reagents
2.2 Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fibroblast Culture
2.3 Viability Study
2.4 Immunoblotting
2.5 ELISA Procedure
2.6 Animal Study (Rat Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis)
2.7 Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1 The Effects of repeated exposure to low concentrations of epigallocatechin-3-gallate on Rheumatoid Arthritis synovial fibroblast viability
3.2 The Effect of Epigallocatechin-3-gallate on Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors 1 and 2
3.3 Regulation of downstream signaling proteins in repeated exposure to low concentrations and single exposure to high concentrations of Rheumatoid Arthritis synovial fibroblasts with epigallocatechin-3-gallate
3.4 Regulation of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-induced IL-6 and IL-8 by repeated exposure to low concentrations and a single exposure to high concentrations of epigallocatechin-3-gallate to Rheumatoid Arthritis synovial fibroblasts in vitro
3.5 The Effects of repeated, low concentration exposure of Epigallocatechin-3-gallate on Tumor Necrosis Factor-α signaling in vivo using Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis Rat Joint Homogenates
4. Discussion
5. References