Fig 4. Lack of Elovl6 increased expression of various chondrocyte differentiation markers and related transcriptional regulators in primary chondrocytes.

(A) The summary of microarray analysis of primary chondrocyte. The genes up-regulated in Elovl6^-/- chondrocytes vs. controls were indicated in red; while those down-regulated in Elovl6^-/- vs. controls cells were shown in blue. Elovl6-deficient primary chondrocytes showed 1646 up-regulated genes and 2562 down-regulated ones by more than twofold compared with controls. (B) Relative mRNA levels of marker genes for chondrocyte differentiation, were determined by real-time qPCR (n = 3–9 in each group). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p<0.001 vs. controls.