Statistical analysis
All statistical tests were performed using SigmaPlot 11 software (Systat
Software Inc., Richmond, CA, USA), whereas data were plotted using
GraphPad Prism (version 10.1.0; GraphPad Software, Inc., La Jolla, CA).
Results are presented as group means ± SEM obtained from groups of 6-10
animals (group sizes were chosen according to our preliminary
behavioural experiments in the MIA-induced OA model). Statistical
analysis was performed separately for the results of male and female
rats. Data were tested for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test
(P > 0.05). For the behavioural analysis,
statistical significance was tested using a two-way ANOVA with repeated
measures (treatment was the between-subjects factor and time was the
within-subjects factor). To assess the overall magnitude of MIA-induced
changes and the effects of drug treatments in the weight-bearing and von
Frey tests over time, the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated for
each rat using the trapezoidal method. One-way ANOVA was used to compare
AUC treatment groups within the same sex, whereas two-way ANOVA was used
to compare AUC values between treatment and sex groups. For relative
mRNA expression levels and markers of redox status, statistical
significance was tested using one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U test,
respectively. The Tukey test was used as a post-hoc test after
all ANOVA tests. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant in
all tests.