Figure 4. Effect of scleraxis deletion on the proteome of tendons.

(A) Principal component analysis (PCA) of mass spectroscopy–based proteomics data of tendons from control nonoverloaded (0D) Scx⁺ tendons, as well as from Scx⁺ and Scx^Δ mice at 7D or 14D after synergist ablation/plantaris growth procedure. (B) Heatmaps demonstrating the log₂ fold change in selected proteins between Scx⁺ and Scx^Δ tendons at 7D and 14D. Differences between groups were tested using FDR-corrected t tests; a, different (q < 0.05) between Scx⁺ and Scx^Δ groups at a given time point. N = 4 mice per group.