Fig. 2.

Downregulation of p38 inhibited the expression of chondrocyte-specific genes, such as p-smad1/smad1 and p-smad4/smad4 in TGF-β1-induced BMSCs. a Western blotting indicated that the protein expression of p-p38 was sharply decreased in BMSCs after transfecting with shRNA-p38 with no change on the p38 protein level. b The mRNA level of p-p38 and p38 was decreased in the shRNA-p38 group when compared with control and shRNA-NC groups from the results of qRT-PCR assays. c Representative pictures and statistical analysis results of Western blot showed that the expression of Aggrecan, collagen II, p-smad1/smad1, p-smad4/smad4, and SOX9 notably reduced in the TGF-β1-induced BMSCs when compared with control, which were upregulated by shRNA-p38 and SB203580 significantly. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 vs. control; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01, and ^###p < 0.001 vs. TGF-β1