Fig. 2

Developed intverterbral disc degenertion phenotype and increased MMP3 expression in intervertebral disc of db/db mice indcued by leptin receptor knock out. a, b, c Representative H&E staining for intervertebral disc in WT, IGF-1 treated and db/db mice; d, e, f Representative picture of MMP3 expression in WT, IGF-1 treated and db/db mice; g Representative picture of negative control for MMP3 expression; h High mignification picture of MMP3 expression in db/db mice show the MMP3 to be located in extracellular; i Quantitative measurements of the percentage of the cells with MMP3 expression to the total cells per view. (N = 5, triplicates per group). All data are reported as the mean ± s.d. Statistical significance was determined by three-way ANOVA and Student’s t-test. * P < 0.05(IGF-1 treated group compare to WT). #P < 0.05(db/db group compare to WT). ^aP < 0.05(IGF-1 treated compare to db/db group)