Fig. 3: The expression of LRP3 is decreased during OA development.

a Safranin-O and toluidine blue staining in human OA and normal cartilage (n = 5). b The IOD value for human cartilage proteoglycan content determined by safranin O and toluidine blue staining (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). c IHC staining for LRP3 in human OA and normal cartilage (n = 5). d Quantification of LRP3-positive cells in human OA and normal cartilage (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). e Representative images of safranin O-fast green staining in rat Sham and ACLT knee cartilage (n = 5). f OARSI scores of rat Sham and ACLT knee cartilage (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). g IHC staining for LRP3 in rat Sham and ACLT tibial cartilage (n = 5). h Quantification of LRP3-positive cells in rat Sham and ACLT tibial cartilage (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). i Representative images of safranin O-fast green staining in 3 months and 12 months mouse knee cartilage (n = 5). j OARSI scores of 3 months and 12 months mouse knee cartilage (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). k IHC staining for LRP3 in 3 months and 12 months mouse tibial cartilage (n = 5). l Quantification of LRP3-positive cells in 3 months and 12 months mouse tibial cartilage (n = 5, two-tailed Student’s t-test). m Quantification of mRNA levels for COL2A1, ACAN, SOX9, and LRP3 in rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β (10 ng/ml) and TNF-α (20 ng/ml) for 3 d (n = 3, one-way ANOVA). n The protein levels of SOX9, COL2A1, and LRP3 in rat chondrocytes treated with IL-1β (10 ng/ml) and TNF-α (20 ng/ml) for 5 d (n = 3). Data are shown as the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. n indicates the number of biologically independent samples, mice per group or human specimens.