Fig. 4.

Collagen matrix characteristics following decellularization and collagenase. (A) Total collagen was higher in D2.mdx diaphragm muscles compared to wildtype. There were no significant effects of treatment on total collagen. (B) Percentage of insoluble collagen, a measure of cross-linked collagen, was significantly higher in D2.mdx diaphragms compared to wildtype. There was a decrease in the percent of insoluble collagen in the collagenase treated D2.mdx soleus compared to the decellularized soleus. (C) Representative brightfield and polarized light images of Sirius red stained diaphragm sections. (D) The D2.mdx diaphragm had a significantly higher percentage of muscle occupied by ECM than the wildtype. (E) The D2.mdx diaphragm had a significantly higher proportion of densely packed collagen than the wildtype, but there was no effect of collagenase on collagen packing density. Scale bars are equal to 100 μm. Flat bars represent two-way ANOVA significant main effects by treatment: ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01; and by genotype: ^***p < 0.001. Bracketed bars represent post-hoc Sidak test significant differences by treatment: ^#p < 0.05; and by genotype: *p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001, ^****p < 0.0001. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)