Safranin-O staining of joint sections (OARSI scoring)
and H&E
staining of joint sections in a PTOA mouse model (DJD scoring). (a)
Representative safranin-O staining of the articular surface of the
tibia and femur; insets show areas of interest under increased magnification
(top) and treatment-blinded histological scoring by OARSI standards
(bottom) (for each treatment groups, n = 6, while
for the healthy group, n = 4). (Histology: arrows—cartilage
erosion, #—cartilage fissures, *—low safranin-O staining;
plotted data: *p < 0.05, no significant differences
are indicated on the graphs as NS). Statistical significance via one-way ANOVA (GraphPad Prism 8), corrected for multiple
comparisons by controlling the false discovery rate with a two-stage,
step-up Benjamini–Krieger–Yekutieli method; all images
are matched in the scale; (b) H&E staining of PTOA joints showing
a representative slide for each treatment group (histology: #—mineralization
and *—cellular infiltration and synovial membrane thickening);
insets show higher magnification images of synovial tissue (top) and
DJD scoring of the joint histology by a treatment-blinded pathologist
(bottom, *p < 0.05, while no significant differences
are indicated on the graphs as NS); statistical significance via one-way ANOVA (GraphPad Prism 8), corrected for multiple
comparisons by controlling the false discovery rate with a two-stage,
step-up Benjamini–Krieger–Yekutieli method, statistically;
all images are matched in the scale. In the lower magnification images,
scale bar = 1 mm, while in higher magnification images, scale bar
= 100 μm (for each treatment groups, n = 6,
while for the healthy group, n = 4).