Figure 5.

Berberine ameliorates intervertebral disc degeneration in vivo. (a–c) Representative HE staining, Safranin O staining, and TUNEL staining of disc samples from different groups (arrows, TUNEL-positive) (scale bars: 25 μm, magnified ×100). (b) The histological score and (c) relative ratio of TUNEL-positive cells are presented. (d, e) Protein expressions were measured by immunoblot and relative protein expression was analyzed by the ImageJ software. ^∗∗P < 0.01 compared with the sham group; ^##P < 0.01 compared with the IDD group.