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. 2018 Jul 25;8:11191. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29352-3

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Nucleus pulposus-specific stabilization of b-Catenin increased the compressive stiffness of tail and lumbar discs. (A) Experimental design/timeline of 4 mo bCAT cACT mice and harvest after 1 mo. Red “X’s” indicate tissue harvest. Letters on the right side of the “X’s” indicate the panels in the timeline. (B,D,F) Are in tail IVD and (C,E and G) are in lumbar IVD. tdTomato reporter of the expression of Shh was (B) throughout the NP of the tail IVD and cartilage endplate (white arrows), but (C) Shh expression was 34% of the cells in the lumbar NP (white arrow, n = 3). Safranin-O stain of bCAT cACT and WT of (D) tails and (E) lumbar IVD (white arrows indicate proteoglycan nodules). Mechanical properties (Compression, Tension, Neutral Zone) of (F) tail (n = 5–8) and (G) lumbar IVDs (n = 5–6). Scale bar: (BE) 100 µm. Data are presented as mean + SD. bCAT cACT vs. WT; *p < 0.05.