Figure 2.

Effect of mTORC1 inhibition on the chondrogenic gene expression of patient-derived OA chondrocytes. Collagen type I-chondrocyte constructs were cultured in chondrogenic culture media supplemented without (control) with or rapamycin for 14 days. mRNA was isolated and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed: for the main chondrogenic markers SRY-box (SOX)9, collagen type II α 1 chain (COL2A1) and aggrecan (ACAN) (A–C); and for the hypertrophic marker RUNX2; (D) Experiments were performed in triplicates and results are shown as relative gene expression ± standard error of the mean (SEM) versus control. p < 0.01 was considered highly significant (**).