Figure 1. Gene expression levels of tenogenic markers, matrix remodeling markers, and western blots on tenogenic markers to confirm gene expression results.

Gene expression of (A) SCX, (B) TNMD, (C) COL1A1, (D) COL3A1, (E) MMP1, and (F) MMP3 in tendon core cell population and peritenon cell population cultured in expansion medium. The cells were extracted from eight different horses. Using the 2^−ΔΔCT method, the data are presented both in terms of “relative expression” normalized to three housekeeping genes, as well as the fold change in gene expression normalized relative to the tendon core expression. The respective p values are as follows:(A) SCX (24-fold; p = 0.01), (B) TNMD low expression and not significantly different, (C) no difference for COL1A1 (p = 0.48) (D) Col3A1 (2.1-fold; p = 0.02), (E) MMP1 (330-fold; p = 0.02), (F) MMP3 (13-fold; p = 0.02. (G) Western blots on tenogenic markers to confirm the gene expression results. The graphs display the relative band signal strength in Western blots analyzed by optical densitometry and related to loading control vimentin. Cells from the tendon core population demonstrated a higher level of scleraxis protein expression compared to cells from the peritenon when cultured in expansion medium for a week (p<0.05). The difference between the two cell populations for collagen protein expression was not significant.