Fig 2: Impact of different melatonin concentrations in combination with compressive strain on cell number (a), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release (b) and gene expression of interleukin-1-beta (IL1ß, (c)), IL6 (d), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa, (e)), or prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase-2 (PTGS2, (f)); n = 9; Statistics: ordinary ANOVA with Holm–Šídák’s multiple comparison tests (Il1ß, Il6, and Tnfa) or Welch-corrected ANOVA with Games–Howell multiple comparison tests (cell number, LDH release, Ptgs2); ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Fig 3: Impact of leptin in combination with tensile strain on TNF (a,b), IL1B (c,d), IL6 (e,f), and PTGS2 (g,h) gene and protein expression and secretion in RAW264.7 macrophages; n = 4; Welch-corrected ANOVA with Dunnett’s T3 multiple comparisons test. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001. Uncropped blot is presented in Figure S2.

Fig 4: Impact of leptin, Porphyromonas gingivalis LPS and a combination of both on gene expression of Tnf (a), Il1b (b), Il6 (c), and Ptgs2 (d) in RAW264.7 macrophages; n = 6; Statistics: Welch-corrected ANOVA with Dunnett’s T3 multiple comparisons test; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Fig 5: Impact of static pressure application (pressure (a–c)) or tensile strain (tension (d–f)) on Tnf-α/TNF-α (a, d), Cox-2/PG-E2 (b, e), and Il-6/IL-6 (c, f) gene and protein expression after 2, 4, 24, or 48 h of treatment. AU: arbitrary units; error bars: standard deviation; mRNA: untreated: n = 35, 2 h–48 h: each n = 9; secretion: n = 6; ∗p ≤ 0.05, ∗∗p ≤ 0.01, and ∗∗∗p ≤ 0.001 compared to untreated control. Statistics: mRNA: Kruskal-Wallis H test followed by Dunn's multiple comparison post hoc tests; secretion: Mann-Whitney U test.