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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Oct 22.
Published in final edited form as: ACS Nano. 2019 Oct 1;13(10):11320–11333. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.9b04477

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

Loss of decorin reduces the retention of aggrecan in cartilage neo-matrix, but does not alter the biosynthesis of aggrecan. (a) Anabolic gene expressions of chondrocytes cultured in alginate beads up to 8 days, with or without the addition of TGF-β1, including Dcn, Acan, Has2, Halpn1, Col2a1, and Col1a1 (mean ± SEM, n = 6, *: p < 0.01 between WT and Dcn−/− cells). Dcn−/− chondrocytes do not show differences in gene expressions from the WT, except for that of decorin, with or without the addition of TGF-β1. Addition of TGF-β1 significantly up-regulates the expressions of all genes except for Col1a1 in both genotypes and Dcn in Dcn−/− chondrocytes. Different letters indicate significant differences between the untreated and TGF-β1-treated groups within each genotype. (b) Sulfated GAGs released to media, retained in the neo-matrix and total amount synthesized by chondrocytes cultured in alginate beads up to 8 days, as measured by DMMB assay. Dcn−/− chondrocytes synthesize similar amount of sGAGs as WT, with or without TGF-β1, but fewer sGAGs are retained in the neo-matrix (mean ± 95% CI, n = 6, *: p < 0.05).