Figure 7
Effects of metformin on degeneration-related genes and protein expression in nucleus pulposus cells induced by oxidative stress. (a–d)The mRNA expression of Col2a1, Aggrecan, Adamts-5 and Mmp-3 were measured by real-time PCR. Gene expression was normalized by individual GAPDH expression, and expressed as mean of fold-change mean±S.D. compared with control level. (e–f) The representative collagen-II and Mmp3 were detected by the immunofluorescence combined with DAPI staining for nuclei (collagen-II: original magnification × 200, scale bar: 50 μm, Mmp3: × 400, scale bar: 25 μm). (g–j)The expression of Col2a1, Aggrecan, Adamts-5 and Mmp-3 were measured by ELISA. The data in the figures represent the averages±S.D. Significant differences between the treatment and control groups are indicated as **P<0.01, *P<0.05, #P>0.05, n=3
