Fig. 5: TEPP-46 treatment alleviates cartilage degeneration.

a Schematic diagram of intra-articular TEPP-46 administration in DMM mice. Three-month-old mice underwent DMM surgery, and intra-articular injections of DMSO or TEPP-46 were initiated one week later and administered once weekly for seven weeks. Mice were euthanized at 4 or 8 weeks post-DMM for cartilage histology, hind-limb behavioral testing, and subchondral bone micro-CT. b Representative SO&FG staining of cartilages (top) and HE staining of synovium (bottom) in mice treated with TEPP-46, 4 weeks (upper panel) and 8 weeks (lower panel) post-DMM surgery. c Quantification of total OARSI scores (left) for cartilage and synovitis scores (right) in mice administered with DMSO or TEPP-46 at 4 weeks and 8 weeks post-DMM. d Representative IHC images and e quantification of COL2A1, ACAN, SOX9, MMP13, ADAMTS5, and PCNA expression in cartilage from mice treated with DMSO or TEPP-46, 8 weeks post-DMM surgery. f CatWalk gait analysis showing representative paw-print traces and quantification of hind-limb movement parameters (swing speed, swing duration, duty cycle), presented as RH/LH ratios. g Paw withdrawal threshold measured by the von Frey test. Data were presented as means ± s.e.m., n = 8, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. ns not significant.