Fig. 5.
RNA-seq analysis and validation study results. a Volcano plot of control-vs-PEMF revealing up- and down-regulated DEGs after PEMF treatment. b KEGG analysis of DEGs. c Gene-pathway interactions visualized in Cerebral Layout using ClueGo. d Gene expression changes of cells from three individual donors visualized in KEGG pathview of TNF-α pathway. e Protein expression levels of ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, p38, and p-p38 were analyzed by Western blot. f Semi-quantitative analysis of each band was analyzed by ImageJ, and band intensity ratio (Ap-ERK ⁄ AERK and Ap-p38 ⁄ Ap38) were calculated (n = 4/group/time point). g Expression of chondrogenic marker (Sox9) and hypertrophic marker (Runx2) in hBMSCs during chondrogenic induction after ERK1 ⁄ 2 and p38 inhibition on day 3 and 14 (n = 4/group/time point). *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01. # vs control group without inhibition, ^ vs PEMF group without inhibition, #, ^ p < 0.05, ##, ^^ p < 0.01.