Figure 3.

Analysis of the immunohistochemical reaction for osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL) in the superficial and middle zones of the femoral articular cartilage of male and female newborn rats prenatally exposed to fumonisins; (A,D) the percentage of cells with a positive response, (B,E) the intensity of the immunostaining reaction, measured by the quantitative assessment of the mean pixel intensity value in the photomicrographs converted to 8-bit. grayscale images, (C) representative pictures of the immunohistochemical analysis of OPG carried out on formaldehyde-fixed sections from the femoral articular cartilage of male and female newborn rats; (G) representative pictures of the immunohistochemical analysis of RANKL carried out on formaldehyde-fixed sections from the articular cartilage of male and female newborn rats. Scale bars are equal to 20 µm. Data are presented as mean ± standard error. M, male; F, female; AC, articular cartilage.