Fig. 1.

Effect of dietary zinc deficiency on the gene expression levels of osteoblastogenesis-related factors and osteoblast-specific proteins in femur. The mRNA expression levels of BMP2, Runx2, Osterix, ALP, Osteocalcin and Col1a1 were determined using qRT-PCR. The ordinate axis indicates the relative amount of mRNA compared with that from the C group. Gene expression levels were normalized to the levels of β-actin. Values are expressed as means ± SEM (n = 8). Means with different letters differ significantly; p<0.05.