Figure 9.

Skin analysis of P3H3 null mice.A, Masson’s trichrome staining was performed using skin sections from 8-month-old P3H3 WT and null mice. D and H indicate dermis and hypodermis corresponding to the blue rich and the white rich area, respectively. Scale bars, 200 μm. B, the thickness of dermis and hypodermis was measured from the images of Masson’s trichrome stained skin sections. The averaged thicknesses of dermis and hypodermis are 350.6 ± 78.2 μm and 137.1 ± 28.7 μm for WT and 275.0 ± 80.1 μm and 335.7 ± 48.6 μm for P3H3 null mice. ∗ and ∗∗∗ indicate p < 0.05 (p = 0.013) and p < 0.0005 (p = 1.50 E⁻¹⁴), respectively. C, the ratio between dermis and hypodermis was calculated from Masson’s trichrome stained skin sections. The averaged ratio between dermis and hypodermis is 2.64 ± 0.73 for WT and 0.84 ± 0.30 for P3H3 null. ∗∗∗ indicates p < 0.0005 (p = 1.96 E⁻⁹). D, electron microscopy images displaying the skin collagen fibrils in 3-month-old P3H3 WT and null mice. Scale bar, 500 nm. E, the histogram represents the fibril diameter distribution in P3H3 WT (cyan) and null (magenta) mice. The averaged fibril diameters of P3H3 null and WT mice are 84.9 ± 35.6 nm and 85.1 ± 25.9 nm, respectively.