Figure 1.

Histologic features of mouse articular cartilage at 4, 8 and 12 weeks following long term usage of Dex. (A) Representative images of Safranin O-fast green-stained sections of knee joints from intraperitoneal Dex injection mice at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. (B) Expansion of the region occupied by articular cartilage. (C) OARSI scoring system showed more severe proteoglycan depletion in the medial femur and tibia of mice following long term usage of Dex with advancing time (n = 5). MFC: medial femoral condyle; MTP: medial tibial plateau. Scale bar: 100 µm. Comparisons of multiple groups were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's test. Data were expressed as the mean ± SEM. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; ****, P < 0.0001.