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. 2017 May 24;7:2371. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02490-w

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Directed Cre recombination in articular chondrocytes from Agc1-CreER mice. (a) Agc1-CreER mice target articular chondrocytes in adult mice. Agc1-CreER; ROSA mT/mG mice were generated by breeding Agc1-CreER transgenic mice with ROSA mT/mG reporter mice. Tamoxifen or vehicle control was administered into 2-month-old Agc1-CreER; ROSA mT/mG mice. Bone samples were harvested from 3-month-old mice after they were injected with tamoxifen at age of 2 months (1 mg/10 g body weight, i.p. injection, daily for 5 days). Histologic sections of Agc1-CreER; ROSA mT/mG mice with or without tamoxifen treatment were analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. The results showed that Agc1-CreER targeting GFP-positive cells (green color cells) are located in growth plate (red arrowheads), articular cartilage (white arrowheads) and meniscus (yellow arrowheads) in Agc1-CreER; ROSA mT/mG mice. (b) Significant decrease in Runx2 mRNA expression was observed in Runx2 Agc1CreER mice compared to their Cre-negative littermates. Total RNA was isolated from articular cartilage of 5-month-old Runx2 Agc1CreER mice and their Cre-negative littermates and real-time PCR assay was performed. All mice were administrated with tamoxifen at 2-months of age (**P < 0.01 versus Cre-negative mice, unpaired Student’s t-test; n = 3 mice per group). (c) Immunohistochemical (IHC) results showed that Runx2 protein levels were significantly decreased in articular cartilage of Runx2 conditional KO mice compared to Cre-negative mice (Red arrowheads show Runx2 positive cells, n = 3 mice per group).