Fig. 3From: Effects of aging on the histology and biochemistry of rat tendon healingAnalysis of the chondrogenic changes in the patellar tendons in young and aged rats. (A). Representative images of HE staining of the patellar tendon at week 4 in aged and young rats. Arrow head: chondrocyte-like cells in tendon. (B).Three-dimensional reconstruction of the patellar tendon. Red: patellar tendon; Blue: bone-like tissues. (C). Quantitative analysis of ectopic ossification of patellar tendons from young and aged rats 8 weeks post injury. (D). Representative images of Alcian blue staining of the patellar tendon at weeks 2 and 4 in young and aged rats. (E). RT-PCR of the gene expression levels of aggrecan, Sox9 and col-2. GAPDH was used as an internal control. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.01, and n = 3. (F). Western blot analysis of the protein expression levels of aggrecan and Sox9. GAPDH was used as an internal control. (G). Quantitative analysis of western blot results (n = 3)Back to article page