Figure 7.

circ_001653 Silencing Alleviates IDD in the Mouse Model

A total of 24 mice were randomly divided into four groups: nonpuncture group (control), noninjection with puncture group (noninjection), si-circ_001653 injection with puncture group (si-circ_001653), and OE-circ_001653 plus miR-486-3p agomir injection with puncture group (OE-circ_001653 + miR-486-3p agomir). Changes of intervertebral DHI after injection (A). MRI scores of mice after 9 weeks of injection (B). Safranin O staining in IVD of mice (400×) (C). Apoptosis conditions in IDD NPCs of mice assessed by TUNEL staining (400×) (D). Apoptosis ability detection (E). The expression of ECM synthesis-associated proteins (100×) in mice IVD cells detected by immunochemistry (F). *p < 0.05 versus the control group; #p < 0.05 versus the noninjection group; &p < 0.05 versus the si-circ_001653 group. Statistical data were measurement data described as mean ± standard deviation. The experiment was repeated three times independently. Data among multiple groups were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and at different time points by repeated-measurement analysis of variance, followed by Tukey’s post hoc test.