Effects of repeated Dex on LC3 expression in articular cartilage in DMM mice model. (A) The effect of Dex on LC3 expression in articular cartilage of DMM mice was analyzed by IHC. (B) TUNEL assay was used to analyze the effect of autophagy inhibitor Baf-A1 on the apoptosis of primary chondrocytes with or without Dex, the percentage of apoptosis cells in the articular cartilage were calculated (n = 3). Scale bar: 100 µm. (C-E) Quantification of cells positive for LC3 in articular cartilage of vehicle and Dex group at 4 weeks (B), 8 weeks (C) and 12 weeks (D) after DMM surgery, respectively (n = 4). (F) Quantification of apoptotic cells in cultured primary chondrocytes (n = 3). Differences between two groups were evaluated using Student's unpaired t-test, and 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.