Figure 1.

Localization and expression of COMP and TSP-4 in human articular cartilage. (a) Articular cartilage sections from femoral condyles from healthy controls (HC) and OA patients (OA) were stained with COMP and TSP-4 specific antibodies. Scale bar = 1 mm. (b) Magnifications of tissue areas indicated with the boxes in (a). Scale bar = 100 µm. (c) Total COMP and TSP-4 content was investigated via immunoblots, with proteins extracted from OA cartilage areas showing different degeneration grades (grade 1 (G1), grade 2 (G2) and grade 3/4). PageBlue^TM staining was used as loading control (LC). Representative immunoblots from 10 different donors are shown. (d) Quantification and statistical analyses of the immunoblots. Values are represented as scatter plots with indicated mean as fold changes to G1 (set as 1). The significance of the increase in COMP and TSP-4 is indicated (p < 0.05 *, p < 0.01 **).