Fig. 3

Analysis of the chondrogenic changes in the patellar tendons in young and aged rats. (A). Representative images of HE staining of the patellar tendon at week 4 in aged and young rats. Arrow head: chondrocyte-like cells in tendon. (B).Three-dimensional reconstruction of the patellar tendon. Red: patellar tendon; Blue: bone-like tissues. (C). Quantitative analysis of ectopic ossification of patellar tendons from young and aged rats 8 weeks post injury. (D). Representative images of Alcian blue staining of the patellar tendon at weeks 2 and 4 in young and aged rats. (E). RT-PCR of the gene expression levels of aggrecan, Sox9 and col-2. GAPDH was used as an internal control. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.01, and n = 3. (F). Western blot analysis of the protein expression levels of aggrecan and Sox9. GAPDH was used as an internal control. (G). Quantitative analysis of western blot results (n = 3)