Fig. 3.

Immunohistochemical staining for Asporin.

Representative images of temporal change of Asporin expression in tibia and MCC are shown. Tibial mesial condyle at 1 week-old in lower magnification (A) and negative control of no primary antibody (B). Tibial epiphyseal cartilage at 1, 3, 5 week(s)-old in higher magnification (C–E). Mandibular condyle at 1 week-old in lower magnification (F) and negative control of no primary antibody (G). Mandibular condylar cartilage at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 week(s)-old in higher magnification (H–L).Signal intensity of immune-reactivity are shown (n = 3). The mean value from three images was calculated using ImageJ (M). PO: primary ossification center SO: secondary ossification center TR: Tibial reserve layer TP: tibial proliferating layer TH: tibial hypertrophic layer MF: mandibular fibrous layer MP: Mandibular proliferating layer MH: Mandibular hypertrophic layer ND: not detectable *: p < 0.05 bar: 50 μm.