Fig 3. Collagen alignment and proteoglycan scores.

Representative microscopic images of (A) picrosirius red-stained sections (polarised light) and (C) toluidine blue-stained sections (normal light) from each location from a control and transected SDFT mapped to a diagram of the SDFT. Topographically-mapped box plots of (B) collagen fiber alignment scores and (D) proteoglycan scores of partially transected tendons (dark bars) compared with control SDFT (light bars). The lateral lesion site in the transected tendons is indicated by a triangle. As indicated on the horizontal logarithmic scale, expression on lateral side increases from right to left for display symmetry. Tendon regions in the central diagram are shaded if the score difference between control and transected tendons (indicated P values) is significant at the 5% level by Mann-Whitney U.