Fig. 3

OVX and forced running synergistically accelerates articular cartilage degeneration in the knee joint. a Histological observation from each group stained with safranin-O. Boxed areas in the top panels are magnified and presented in the bottom panels. We observed significant loss of safranin-O dyeability in the OVX + Run group. Scale bar: top 100 μm, middle and bottom 25 μm. Number of mice in each group is indicated in the figure. b Mankin’s score for the femoral and tibial compartment between groups. The score confirmed that OVX and forced running synergistically accelerated articular cartilage degeneration. Values are means with SEM. Differences among groups were assessed by a Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks followed by Steel-Dwass’s post-hoc test. Number of mice in each group is indicated in the figure. c, d Immunohistochemistry for type II (c) and type I collagen (d) in each group. Ectopic expression of type I collagen in both femoral and tibial articular cartilage was observed in the OVX + Run group. Scale bar: 25 μm. Number of mice in each group is indicated in the figure