Figure 6.

Rac1 inhibition in human tendon explants recreates the aged diseased tendon phenotype. Young diseased tendon (“Tendinotic,” a, b, j, k) or asymptomatic (“Young,” c–h, l–o) tendon explants cultured in normoxic conditions (21% O₂; a, c, j, l), normoxic conditions with Rac1 inhibitor NSC23766 (NSC, b, d, k, m), hypoxia (1% O₂; e, n), or hypoxia with NSC23766 (f, g, h, o) harvested after three months, stained for H&E (a–h) or via immunohistochemistry (j–o) for col1α2 (C1), col2α1 (C2), colX (CX), or HIF‐1α (HIF1α). Magnification of explants at 4x after routine H&E staining, with close‐up at 10x. Bar = 20 μm. n = 4. Representative explants shown. (i, j) FTIR of protein:collagen ratio (i) or mineral:collagen ratio (j) of explants as above. Error bars = SEM, n = 4. *p < 0.05