Fig. 2.

Inactivation of Piezo1 in chondrocytes causes rib fractures in neonatal mice. Representative contact radiographs and histology images of rib bones from Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre littermates a immediately after birth (P0) or b at postnatal day 7 (P7), as indicated. Scale bar in radiographs: 5 mm, in histological sections: 250 µm. c Quantification of rib fractures in Piezo1^Col2a1Cre mice immediately after birth (P0), at postnatal days 7, 14 and 21 (P7, P14, P21) or at 6, 12 and 20 weeks of age (6 W, 12 W, 20 W). Scale bars: 2 mm. d Representative µCT images of rib bones from Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre littermates immediately after birth (P0), indicating the analyzed region of interest in red. Scale bar: 50 µm. e Representative close-up cross-sectioned µCT reconstructions of the quantified areas from Piezo1^fl and Piezo1^Col2a1Cre littermates at P0 and at 6 weeks of age (6 W). Scale bar: 100 µm. f Quantification of the trabecular bone volume per tissue volume (BV/TV) and the cortical thickness (Ct.Th) in mice with different ages and genotypes, as indicated. n ≥ 6. Statistical analysis was conducted with Student’s t test comparing different genotypes for each age. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01