Fig. 3

Inactivation of Piezo1 in chondrocytes attenuates OA development in aged (60-week-old) mice. a Representative contact radiographs of Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice, demonstrating mildly reduced body length in Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice. Scale bar: 10 mm b Quantification of the skeletal length of the femur, tibia, and lumbar spine (LS). c Representative µCT images of knee joints from Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice. Scale bars: 1 mm. d Quantification of subchondral bone volume fraction (BV/TV). e Quantification of the osteophyte total volume (TV). f Representative Safranin-O staining of undecalcified knee joint sections from Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice. Top panel: overview, scale bar: 1 mm. Bottom panel: detailed view of the articular cartilage, scale bar: 100 µm. g Histomorphometric quantification of the subchondral bone plate thickness (SCB.Th). h Quantification of the OARSI score in knee joints of 60-week-old Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice (n ≥ 5). Statistical analysis was conducted with Student’s t test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001